Clarke-Sensei?
by Clarke-Sensei
Summary: Rewrite of a previous story- Monsters surround him in an unfamiliar land, but these ones aren't out for his blood. These are the ones that need his help, but can he stem the darkness inside himself? The very thing he fought has taken a new hold on Isaac, one that his will to live can't fight off.
1. Chapter 1

**All right. From the ground up, and over the corpse of the original. This is closer to how I originally imagined my story, but when I first typed it, I couldn't translate it well. Now I believe, I can write this how I wanted it, needed it to be, and ultimately, will be. I've spent these last few months with writer's block looming over me, crushing my integrity. No longer will I suffer this. **

**I'll keep the original up for anyone to read. It'll be great to hear from old readers as well as new readers.**

**If you are a new reader, I ask you take a bit of time to read my older variation. It'll give you a basis of what I'm doing, but this one will vary extensively. (This story will be better)**

**As always, everything that I don't specify as mine, is the property of their respective owners. I seek no financial gain from writing this.**

Isaac blankly stared at the wall of ice that surrounded him, a few frigid tears stuck to his face. He didn't know how he was alive, but he wished he wasn't. His COM-unit was damaged, and he couldn't summon the will to try and get out.

A sharp cry of static came from his RIG, shaking him from his stupor.

"Isaac? Isaac, are you there?" _Ellie? She's alive! _The engineer tried to clear up the signal, seeing as static covered most of what she was saying. The static didn't clear up due to the transmitter's crushed relay. It was a miracle it was able to pick up Ellie's transmission at all.

_I need to get out of here. She may leave the system if I waste too much time._ He looked around again, not seeing anything that would help him. So, he took off his kinesis module. Shifting some of the power nodes into overcharging the device, he made a makeshift kinetic bomb.

_I hope this works. _He set two nodes to overlap the charges, and tossed it to the farthest wall. He could already see the focusing emitter spark out, and a field of kinetic energy build around the device. It went with a dull thump, shattering the ice around him. Large shards glanced off his armor as he plowed through the falling ice to what he assumed to be daylight. Never had he felt so relieved to see the destruction that he saw surrounding him.

He was miles away from the impact site of the Moon, and he couldn't care less as to why he was over here. He was alive, and Ellie was waiting for him. He just had to locate either a COM-unit or have his RIG repaired, he didn't care which it was. Nonetheless, there was a path to his left marked by lights. It was safe to say there was a station nearby that would be of use.

_Where's Carver? _The last time Isaac saw him, the marine had been yanked off the platform. He was most likely dead for all intents and purposes. Isaac's boot caught on something as he trudged. His cutter was lodged into the ground, but gave little resistance when he pulled on the grip. Everything besides the alignment blades were in working order, so he quickly removed the warped pieces. The tool would run well enough without them.

He continued down the path, avoiding the occasional icicle falling. To his amazement, there was an intact building huddled into the wall. It had be a small station to heat up in the frigid land, and it would be safe to say that there would be a suit station built in. Wasting no time, he quickly unlocked the door. True to his thoughts, there was!

Isaac quickly opened up the interface, and silently cursed. The machine only had a spare engineering suit, no repair functions at all! It'd have to do, at least for now. He entered the proper command to begin the suit-swapping. The mechanical arms descended, and he walked into the suit cradle. As usual, the occasional tug on the RIG caused a pinch on his spine.

It was over before he knew it, and he emerged from the station re-armored. Now he had the time to spare to look around, and was rather unimpressed. It was plain, but he liked plain right now. It was preferable to the alternative. On a table, he spotted a climbing pick along with another kinesis module. Considering his boots lacked the proper treading for ice and snow, he'd need anything to help him traverse the glacial land.

Seeing as the room contained nothing else, he left the warmth of the shack, and embraced the cold. The freezing winds didn't bother him as much, but the wind wasn't what he feared right now. The only path left would require him to shimmy along the ice on a 6-inch shelf jutting out.

The first few steps were easy, but then came the cracking. His next few steps were hurried, and he almost lost his balance a few times. Exhaustion only helped to increase his unsteadiness on his feet. He gripped the walls along the path to avoid slipping, but it didn't help.

One foot slipped, dragging him over the edge as he no longer had any purchase. He grasped for anything as he fell, barely managing to snag a jagged edge.

"SHIT!" He needed to think of something quick, lest he fall to his death. He snatched up the pick from his left side, and stabbed it into the wall next to him. Using his Kinesis, he tethered himself to the tool.

_Please work, please work, please work_ Isaac quickly modified the module's emitter, while decreasing the pull from the miniature tractor beam. The tether began to "stretch", and he started to descend.

The engineer had only gone a few meters when the beam reeled in the pick, causing him to fall.

_WHAT THE SH- _He hadn't fallen for very long, a few seconds at the most. It was enough, as his back made contact with something sharp. The object went through the RIG, snapping ribs like twigs, and pierced his lung. The familiar taste of blood filled his mouth.

He tried to scream, only to start choking on his own blood. He thrashed side to side, his strength nearly failing him as he did. It worked though, as whatever he was impaled on snapped. More snapping was heard as he hit the ground, but it was his ribs, or that's what he believed in his delirium of blood loss.

Clicking popped into his ears, and he regarded a faint form encroach on him. The few details he spotted horrified him, pumping fresh adrenaline into his system. His vision cleared minutely, and he spotted a blue suit. He'd only met one person who had worn that, but he was dead. Still was.

Norton's corpse had turned into a Slasher.

"Son uh fa bitch!" Isaac stumbled to his feet, a pool of blood left from where he lied. He ran for what life he had left, and slammed into metal. He shifted around it, he had to go. Yet, he noticed something glowing on the other side.

_Shockpoint… Kill the bastard…_ He stumbled over to the open Drive core, grabbing his cutter as he did. He aimed, accepting what he was going to do.

_I'm sorry Ellie…_ One trigger pull sliced through the Drive's protective container, and ruptured the delicate balance it was kept in. The energy imploded, and then expanded, swallowing everything within 3 kilometers.

**Elsewhere…**

Water… It was cool, soothing, and he didn't want to move. But his damn chest! It wouldn't stop itching!

_**WAIT! I'M DEAD! **_He fumbled with his helmet, finally unlocking it. It was tossed to the side, and he saw why his chest itched. A chunk of a Marker was lodged in him, and the wound was healing rapidly.

_**NO NO NO NO **_Uselessly, he clawed at it. He slammed his fist into it, hoping to dislodge it. Useless like the last time. He felt it, something clawing in his head.

And like that, everything turned a dark, hazy, and sickly orange…

**Chapter 1: Pain – End**

**Reviews are welcome. Hope you guys enjoyed it. I certainly did.**

**Next chapter will be up whenever it's up. I've got plans.**

** Till next time, Nemesis out**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Sorry for the long time in between updates. College has been kicking my arse, but I'm finding my free time lately. I want to get these out monthly at the most. I can't help it, but I feel bad for not being able to update these sooner for you guys.**

**Also, thanks to all the readers and reviewers.**

**To answer those who've reviewed:**

**SharkManGorilla (Badass name) Thanks, I just hope I can continue this in a spectacular fashion.**

**Mastermind (Simply elegant.) Of course there will be Necromorphs, a Dead Space story isn't complete without those horrible recombinators.**

**Kirbymaniac92 (I hope you mean the little pink void) I plan to.**

**So, without further ado, onto the story. **

He felt horrible, as if a bomb had went off in his chest. Shakily, he sat up from whatever he was laying on. He could smell antiseptic as well as a bit of mixed in blood.

"I wouldn't suggest doing so, Mr. Clarke." Even in the midst of the pain, He reached for his cutter and put space in between him and the voice. He had grabbed empty air. He opened his eyes to check what he already knew.

"I assure you, you've no need for your tool right now. You are perfectly safe here." Isaac finally looked at the man, and was less than relieved. The man wore a white robe, it was obviously something ceremonial. Probably the most unnerving trait that he noticed on the robed-man was the glowing eyes. Luckily, Isaac spotted his cutter in his peripheral.

"Mr. Clarke, I am Tenmei Mikogami, Headmaster of this institution."

_Institution? _

"I run a school for monsters, to teach them the ways of humans, so we could coexist with those who wouldn't understand us." Isaac started to chuckle in response.

"I'm leaving, this is ridiculous." The robed man, Tenmei, grinned devilishly.

"I'd assumed as much." Isaac had snatched up his cutter, and stood up, albeit painfully.

"Before you go, do you remember what happened?" The engineer stopped dead in his tracks. He should just go, but his sense of morbid curiosity got the best of him.

"The Marker Shard, the lake, your almost vicious slaughter of a few of my students, and you perishing only to be brought back." Now he was mortified.

_What happened? What did I do? What about the Marker Shard? _Unconsciously, he placed a hand on his chest.

It came in bits and pieces. A tree here, a person there. One thing he noticed was a gritty orange hue covering his eyes, something he remembered from his time under the Marker's influence on Titan.

_The Marker Shard took control…_

"Exactly, Mr. Clarke. For a time, you became what you fought against. The very monsters that took your beloved Nicole, and what banished you from your precious Ellie's company forever. In the end, those monsters got the last laugh. Disappointing, isn't it?"

"Wait. What do you mean banished forever?! And how do you know about the Marker?!" Isaac spotted the man's grin falter.

"You can't go back. This is another realm of possibility. My sincerest apologies, Mr. Clarke."

_The Shockpoint drive sent me another realm of possibility? A different universe?_

"NO! THERE HAS TO BE A WAY BACK!" Isaac knew well enough the man wasn't lying, but that didn't make it hurt any less. He let himself fall back onto the bed, feeling hollower than he had ever felt before.

"I'm telling you this, because I want to give you a chance."

"A chance at what?"

"A chance to start over. I need new staff, and those with different outlooks on life, are preferred. Especially ones that don't want to eat humans." Isaac stayed quiet, thinking over everything.

"I'll give you time to get things in order. I've set aside a room for you till you decide. If you choose not to join, I'll send you on your way with funds. Find Shizuka Nekonomei when you'd like to go to your room. She'll help you." Tenmei stood up, and began to leave.

"One more thing", he rummaged in his robe, and removed a small bracelet. "This is a Holy Lock. Your affliction is not magical in nature, but it is still susceptible to the effects of my magic." Isaac sat straight up.

"Holy Lock? What affliction?" The robed man smiled again.

"Don't you remember? I said you became what you had fought against. You became a Necromorph. This lock will prevent you from succumbing to it, both in body and mind." Tenmei threw the lock into Isaac's lap.

"If you value your life, as well as the life of others, you'll wear it. Eventually, I imagine, I'll be able to purify you of this affliction." He left after that, leaving a shell-shocked Isaac alone in the room.

"What?"

-One hour later-

Isaac hadn't moved a muscle since Tenmei had left.

_I have to do something…_

_But what?_ A knocking came from the door.

"Is anybody in here?" A woman's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Yes." The door opened, and Isaac spotted the woman in the doorway. She must've been mid to late 30s, with blond hair and glasses. Oddly enough, she had what looked like cat ears sprouting out from her hair.

"Are you Isaac Clarke?" He nodded. She perked up.

"Great! The Chairman told me to come get you, if you didn't visit me after an hour." He nodded again.

"So, are you the new arithmetic teacher? Because our last one was just a creep."

"No. I could, but I don't know if I want to." She turned her head in a confused manner.

"Oh. I'll take you to your room then."

"Thanks." He silently followed the woman, who'd occasionally glance back with a worried look.

"So, where are you from?"

"Earth originally."

"Originally? As in you've lived somewhere else?"

"Yes."

"Does that mean you are an alien?" She turned around almost immediately. He hesitated.

"No…" Shizuka frowned, but only for a second.

"Well, it'd be cool if you were. All we have here are boring old monsters." Before he could silence himself, he asked her a question.

"What type of monster are you?"

"Oh, me? I'm a Nekomusume, a cat demon, you could say."

_Makes sense._

"If you aren't an alien, what are you?" Again, he hesitated.

"I-I'm human." Just saying that gnawed at him.

_You aren't human anymore…_

"You don't seem too sure of that, Mr. Clarke…" She was starting to get on his nerves.

"Just lay off of it, okay?" He came off ruder than what he had hoped. He could see the shock in the woman's face.

_I guess she was trying to make friendly conversation._

"Here's your room, and the key." Shizuka had a dejected look on her face, but was still polite.

"Thank you."

"If you need anything, I'm across the hall." He nodded silently.

"Have a good night, Mr. Clarke." She walked to the adjacent room, and unlocked the door. She waved before heading inside.

_I'm an ass._ He entered the room, and didn't bother to turn on the lights. It was a single room, a cot on one side with a desk on the other. Plenty of free space.

_I could fit a workbench in here… _An idea struck him. He was almost positive more things had come with him from the Shockpoint detonation. He needs something familiar around him, it'll help him.

"I'll check tomorrow. I have time." He sighed.

"All the time in the world, I guess." His limbs felt heavy, so he just fell onto the cot.

-The following day-

His ears were frigid, but it didn't bother him. What bothered him was his dream. He was shaking, a cold sweat had broken out, and he was staring at the roof.

"That's what must've happened."

_Everything he saw was filtered through a grainy orange lens, it had him sick to his stomach. Nonetheless, his main issue was that his body was moving. Lurching through a forest that he didn't recognize. Not that he would recognize a forest._

_Everything seemed plain enough, just shuffling through dead trees. He heard voices, and whatever now led his body heard them as well._

"_Hey, why are we coming out here?" It was a woman's voice. Couldn't be too far off._

"_Didn't you see that thing in the sky? It looked like something tore the barrier apart, and fell in." A male's voice had joined in. It didn't take too long for him to finally spot the ones who owned the voices. They were teenagers, in strange uniforms of a weird hue of green. Strangely enough, the girl had pink hair._

"_Hey, what is that?" Isaac's body must've shifted into their view. _

_In this dream stupor, he noticed the girl cringing. The guy stood in front of the girl, a defensive reaction._

"_Are you okay?" His body started shuffling faster, and his jaw felt like it was splitting. It felt horrible, and he knew he shouldn't feel it. His vision started to shake, and the people started to yell. In that moment, he knew they were dead._

_Isaac's body started a full out sprint, bum-rushing the guy, and knocking him over. The boy flailed his arm, and caught the girl's choker. What Isaac saw stunned him, but not his body. The girl's hair was changing colors, from pink to an unnatural silver. Her eyes also became crimson slits. Something was even more off that what he'd thought._

_The girl said something, and kicked Isaac's body. He flew suddenly, she was inhumanly strong! He must've flown through a few trees. He didn't feel it this time._

_It just couldn't have ended there. His body stood again, and flung itself towards the girl. She responded in kind with a drawn back fist. He saw her fist fly forward, and saw as it impacted his chest, and went through. _

_That was where it ended._

After that, he quickly washed his face, feeling along where he felt the pain in his jaw. He left not long after, he needed to find some things in the lake. He was sure there'd be something there, or more so, he hoped that something was there.

As he left the room, he heard the adjacent room open up.

"Morning, Mr. Clarke!" Shizuka was a chipper as she had been when they first met. She acted as if nothing happened.

"Morning." Naturally, he was going to walk off, but stopped himself.

"Sorry about yesterday."

"Don't worry about it. You seemed stressed out, meow."

_Did she just say meow?_

"Could you tell me where the lake is? I think I may have lost a few things there." She nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, I can't from memory, but the Chairman gave me a map for you. I forgot to give it to you." She ran back into her room, and brought out a folded paper.

"This map has the entire school grounds mapped onto it."

"Thank you." He unfolded the map, and allowed his RIG to scan the map. He threw it in a suit pocket nonetheless. Shizuka only gawked at the tech.

"Mr. Clarke, do you have a phone? You know, just in case something happens?"

"Like what?" The woman sheepishly rubbed her arm.

"You reek of human, and a lot of people here would rather eat a human than talk to them." He nodded, he guessed as much.

"My RIG can probably contact phones from this era. Can I see your phone?" She nodded, and passed the device over. Another quick scan, and he was tapped into their comms.

"I'll call if something comes up, and thanks again."

"Anytime, Mr. Clarke." She looked at her watch.

"Oh no, I'm late!" The woman groaned as she ran off, leaving Isaac to chuckle at her.

_She's a natural clutz, unlike Ellie._ What smile he had was slapped off his face. He had to get his mind on something else, he'd waste away if he didn't. So, He began his walk to the lake, forcing everything into the back of his mind. He felt a few tears sting his cheeks, the pain wouldn't be swept aside like Nicole had been.

Isaac had always known that fighting for his life was a way to put emotional pain in the past, but he wasn't fighting now, and the pain was all too fresh.

"Excuse me? Sir?" Isaac turned to see who was talking, and came face to face with the boy from his dream. His stomach dropped.

"Yes?" He needed to remain casual, if only for his sake.

"Are you okay? After what Moka did?"

"Yeah, fine." As much as he could, Isaac was trying to tell the kid to go elsewhere without saying it.

"Oh, good." The guy looked immensely relieved.

"I'm Tsukune Aono, a student here." The boy held out his hand.

"I need to go." Isaac left the kid there, he could feel a panic attack coming on. His head ached something fierce, and he was nauseous. That kid was better off not knowing who he was. Hell, Isaac was better off not running into him or the girl.

It didn't take him too long to get to the lake after running into that Tsukune kid. The water was a bit muddy at the edges, but further in, it cleared up.

It'd be great if he still had his helmet, he could just walk in.

"HEY!" The kid was running at him.

"What do you want?" This was not helping him at all.

"I found this yesterday." Tsukune pulled an object out of his bag. The familiar brown plating told him all he needed to know.

"My helmet…" He lightly took it from the kid, and looked it over for damage. It still worked, so he slid it on. He felt the suit re-seal with the helmet, and a strange calm settled over him. He was protected now, he was safe.

"Thank you."

"It's no problem… Seems like you are having a bad day though."

"You have no idea… It was Tsukune, right?" The kid nodded.

"Sorry for earlier, and yesterday." He felt the pain in his skull again.

"I wasn't myself."

"It's fine, Moka and I didn't get hurt. Heck, you got the worst of it."

_That I did._

"If you don't mind me asking, what type of monster are you? None that I can think of can come back from a wound like that."

"I don't know…" Isaac walked to a nearby tree, and sat down by it.

"This time yesterday, I was a human fighting for my life. For the lives of the rest of humankind as well." The kid sat by a nearby tree as well.

"Now, I'm some hybrid monster. The very things I fought are now a part of me." Tsukune nodded.

"I used to be human too, until I came here."

"What are you now?"

"A ghoul. It's a human who's been injected with vampire blood. Their mindless, bloodthirsty monsters." Isaac was about to say something about that, but Tsukune beat him to it.

"Luckily, I got this Holy Lock from the Chairman. Keeps me from killing my friends." He shook his wrist to show the bracelet. Isaac only stared at his.

"That Headmaster guy gave me one as well." Both of them bared their Holy Locks.

"Kid, I got to grab a few things from the bottom of the lake. You should head back to class, or to your friends. I got nothing to add to your life."

"Okay." Tsukune stood up, and began to walk off.

"Sir. We don't hold anything against you, especially now that I know something about what you are going through." He left with a smile and a wave.

_Hold's nothing against me? I nearly killed him. _It didn't matter now, he needed to get his things out of the water. A glimmer of hope crossed his mind as he waded into the water.

-Isaac's room-

He was able to recover a functioning Workbench, and enough spare materials to do some repairs. First on his list of repairs was a replacement Kinesis module. It had proven its worth time and time again.

Not long after fixing up a new Kinesis module, someone knocked at his door. In a snap, his blade-less cutter was aimed at the door.

_Old habits die hard_

"Mr. Clarke? Are you in there?" It was Shizuka.

"Yeah." Lowering his cutter, he unlocked the door.

"Hi, Shizuka." She gave him a smile.

"I was wondering, if you haven't already…" She looked down a bit.

"If I, what?"

"Have you had anything to eat?" A hopeful look crossed her face.

"Uhh." Just the thought made his stomach growl madly. The woman giggled.

"I haven't"

"Would you like to have dinner with me? I mean, nobody really hangs out with me, and you don't hang out with anybody."

"Sure?"

"Yes!" She did a little celebratory dance, and then grabbed his hand.

"Let's go!" Isaac found himself dragged along, completely confused by this woman.

_She's utterly childish. _He did have to say her glee was infectious.

They flew past various hallways, only stopping for Shizuka to orientate. A few more hallways after the last turn, and they were at the Teacher's lounge. The lounge was fairly well furnished, and held the basic amenities of a kitchen. There were also vending machines.

"Here you go, meow." A few coins were passed to him. He'd only seen currency like this in museums.

"This is yen, right?" She nodded as she dug into the fridge. Isaac strolled over to the machines, and looked over everything in them. Coffee, tea, milk tea, something called "Pocari Sweat", along with other things that he couldn't figure out. One thing he did recognize was a bottle labeled "Coca Cola". Another relic he had seen in a museum.

"Aaaaaw. I can't find it."

"Can't find what?" He threw in a few yen, and hit the button for the cola. As it vended, he looked over to the woman.

"My sushi, it's not in here, meow." She slumped into a chair.

"What's it in?"

"A Tupperware."

"What's a Tupperware?"

"It's a plastic box, meow." She sat up a bit.

"You're from the future, right?" Isaac opened up the freezer, due to the fridge being bone dry of this Tupperware.

"Yeah." It didn't take long for him to find the frosted container in the freezer.

"Found it." Shizuka groaned again.

"Oh no, it's frozen." Popping the container open, it turned out that the rolls hadn't frozen.

"Oh, nevermind." Isaac shook his head. He could only think of how fast her mood switched, but quickly set out to open up his cola.

He'd always wondered what these things tasted like, and was pleasantly surprised by it. He finished the bottle in 3 gulps.

"So, what's it like in the future?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, is there space travel, aliens, phasers, photon torpedos, and stuff like that." The bottle winded up in the trash, and he took a seat.

"There is space travel, and for the longest time, I thought there were no aliens. Until a few years ago, that is."

"How where they? Were they big headed grey things? Did they come in a flying saucer, meow?" Isaac shook his head.

"No, I wish they were though." His tone dropped, and Shizuka noticed.

"Necromorphs was our name for them. They used dead flesh to make their bodies, it didn't matter what it was from. Man, woman, child, even infants weren't safe. They twisted the bodies, changing them into creatures with only one purpose. That purpose was to kill. The bodies had no major organs to target, so the only way to kill them was to remove the limbs." He lightly patted his cutter.

"That wasn't even killing it, it was stunning it. You'd have to destroy the cells themselves by burning or melting them down with acid. That was the only sure way to kill them." Isaac sat back, thinking about the Ishimura, Titan, and Tau Volantis. He'd been lucky that he was moving constantly.

"I'd rather not talk about it anymore". The teacher nodded solemnly.

"I have a question for you, though."

"What is it, meow?"

"As far as I've seen, why doesn't anyone hang out with you? You really don't seem like bad company at all." This was Shizuka's time to be morose.

"None of the other teachers want to hang out with me, because I don't want to eat human. It just sounds gross, nyah!" He definitely wasn't going to argue with that.

"I'm the outcast here, because I actually want humans and monsters to coexist. That's why I kept Tsukune's secret safe before he'd become a ghoul, meow."

"I almost killed him yesterday". Shizuka looked at him incredulously, but he beat her to the question.

"You probably want to ask why, huh?" She nodded. He took a deep breath.

"I… I'm a Necromorph-Human hybrid… Yesterday, it took control, and tried to kill him and a pink-haired girl." He felt the cola coming back up, and quickly slipped over to the trash. It tasted horrible coming back up.

"Have you talked to the Chairman?" Isaac shook his head.

"He already knew. Had a Holy Lock for me, just like Tsukune." Grabbing some water, he sat down again, feeling worse than he had felt when he woke.

"What about Tsukune? Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah. He said he isn't holding anything against me." The woman giggled.

"What's funny?"

"It's not unusual for something to try to kill him, meow. Most of his friends tried to kill him at one time, but he's a very forgiving kid."

_Crazy kid._

"Mr. Clarke, did you think over the Chairman's offer?"

"No, but I'm not seeing why I shouldn't. I'm a monster now, and the only way I'm becoming human again, is if I stay here." She nodded.

"Do you have any family? You know, to call."

"No. I'm from the future, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Do you miss your family?" Isaac sighed. He really didn't have family anymore, even back in his universe. His father had disappeared a long time ago, and his mother… She was dead to him. The only other people he cared for were either dead or out of reach.

"Only one. She wasn't really family."

"Girlfriend, nyah?"

"Yeah… What about you? Family, friends."

"None. Family passed a while ago, and friends." Shizuka huffed.

"Nobody likes me, except my Newspaper Clubbies."

"Oh."

"Mr. Clarke, do you want to be my friend?" He hadn't expected that, but he couldn't see why not. She was better company than most, if the past few hours have proven anything.

"Sure."

"Yay!" In the blink of an eye, he found himself pulled into a hug. An uneven one at that. She hadn't let him stand, and slammed his face into her cleavage.

_This is awkward._ As best he could while blinded, he tapped her arm.

"Oh, sorry!" She broke off the hug, red in the face from embarrassment.

"It's fine." His was a bit out of breath though, he'd never been smothered like that before.

"Uh." Isaac saw she was twiddling her thumbs nervously, still red in the face.

"Relax." She nodded uneasily.

"Uh, should we head back?"

"Yeah." They walked back to their rooms silently, he could tell she was still embarrassed from earlier. When they arrived at their respective rooms, Isaac unlocked his door.

"Well, good night, Mr. Clarke."

"Just Isaac, okay? I'm not sure about here, but friends call each other by their first names in my time."

"Oh, okay. You can call me Shizuka."

"Good night, Shizuka."

"Good night, Isaac." She smiled, then entered her room. He returned the smile, then entered his own. He rather enjoyed speaking to Shizuka, got his mind off of all the shit going on.

_I'll turn in for the night. _Unlike the previous night, he allowed himself to get relax, and enjoyed sitting on the edge of his cot.

_Maybe, just maybe. Things could be okay. _That feeling didn't last.

"Ellie…" He stared at the roof, feeling heavy again.

_I can't keep doing this. Holding on never helped._

_Isaac? Are you okay? _He shook his head.

_You aren't talking to me. Are you okay? You aren't this quiet usually?_ _What's wrong? You're acting like I'm not even there._

_Because you aren't, and I?_

_I'm just here…_

**Chapter 2-Finish**

**Holy moly, I'm loving this even more than usual. **

**Thankfully, I'm doing more and more. I'll have this story take its time unlike the original one I posted. **

**I reckon 8 or 9 chapters.**

**Alrighty, Nemesis out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Hey guys, sorry about the lack of work. Just some college stuff. Wanted to get out a chapter for Christmas, but that fell through. Sorry**

**To reviewers:**

**Mastermind: I based that moment on the Waster Necromorphs, but thanks for reminding me about that. It's been a while since I last played that one.**

**Sabere Commander: Ease up there, man. It's frustrating me that I can't get these out faster for you guys. I'm doing what I can, but I like your enthusiasm.**

**Italicized words are thoughts… **_**Just so you know**_

**Paragraphs started with ~ are flashbacks. They'll be italicized throughout.**

**All characters and settings are the rightful property of their respective owners. I own nothing, and seek no financial gain.**

"Get out of my head, GET OUT!" Shizuka shot up on her bed, a bit of her hair obscuring her eyes. She glanced at her clock.

_It's only 2, nyah. _The sun was still a long way from rising. Nobody should have been awake at this time, but the slamming of a door faulted her assumption. Nonetheless, she quickly dressed in some simple pajamas. If it was a student, she needed to help them.

She cautiously approached the door, her hair standing on end. Even with her enhanced hearing, she couldn't hear anything from the other side. She opened her door silently, and quickly glanced out.

"Nothing?" She looked at Isaac's door, hoping to see him pop his head out. Nothing happened, and that's when she saw the wood splinters from the door. The majority of the door was fine, but around the handle looked as if it was hit with a hammer. A lot of the splinters were flung towards her room.

_Isaac must've been the one who did it._ She tiptoed over, and gently knocked on the door. It opened slightly as she did.

_Oh, the lock is broken._

"Hey, Isaac? You in there?" No reply. Her skin began to crawl as she realized how unnerving the school was at these hours. Nonetheless, she pushed the door open. Wood chips scraped against the ground as the door swung open, further alerting her.

"Isaac?" She gasped as the door revealed the sanctum of her co-worker. Everything was strewn about, like a small war had been fought. To add to the tension, an occasional flicker of light would briefly illuminate the room. In the flashes, she spotted papers that were strewn about, the table was upended, and a large metal desk was sparking. She spotted Isaac's bracelet hanging off the side of desk, but paid no mind to it.

One thing was for sure, he wasn't here.

"Oh, where could he be?" Quietly, she closed the door. As she stood outside the door for a moment, she noticed how some of the wood had been crushed under foot. Which were then followed by the occasional sprinkling of treated wood down the hall. Luckily, it could be followed fairly easily..

_I could track him! I'd be like a cat detective, nyah! _Her enthusiasm quickly dissipated again as she looked around.

"Why did it have to be so dark?" Of all the things she didn't have from being a Nekomusume, it had to be night vision.

**A little bit later**

Shizuka had been able to follow the scent to one of the side exits for the school, but after that, it'd gotten lost in all the other aromas from outside.Nonetheless, she had found boot tracks, and had begun following them.

"I'm not even sure these are Isaac's." Sadly, they were the only thing she could go on at the time. Something she noticed was that the prints weren't orderly, they zigzagged erratically through the woods. A few feet after the zigzagged prints began, something else got her attention, something that caused her to speed up.

Every other tree following the prints had blood on them, and it reeked. It smelled like human blood, but it was wrong. She couldn't place what made it so bad, but she didn't want to know. It reminded her of rot. Nonetheless, the trail led her to the lake on the outskirts of the school grounds.

"Why can't this just stop." Shizuka stopped as she heard Isaac. Glancing out from behind a tree, she spotted the man sitting at the lake. He was shaking, and apparently with the top half of his suit torn up. She was going to yell out to him, but stopped when she stepped a stick on the ground. Isaac snapped his head around, and she gasped.

His eyes were glowing. It wasn't a reflection, and it wasn't some trick of the eye. She could see his eyes glowing a sickly orange. He looked terrified, and almost feral. Various emotions played across the glowing orbs, before he turned to look at his hands again. That wasn't the only thing that was wrong with him. A large blade stuck out of his palm, covered in a bit of gore. It must've been almost two feet in length, and shaped like a scythe blade.

_What happened to him? _Against her lack of confidence, she called out.

"Isaac?"

**Isaac**

She was just standing there. Obviously terrified, but so was he. His whole body ached, especially his hands. The very objects that had wounded him so many times, were sprouting out of his hands. His own fucking hands.

"Get out of here, Shizuka." Every fiber of his being was trying to force back the infection, he didn't need someone to be the collateral damage. Least of all, Shizuka.

_Wait. _He glanced at his wrist. His lock wasn't there. _Where could it be? Why is it off?_

"No." Isaac shot the woman a look, but she stood firm.

"You need help."

"WELL, NO SHIT!" He had assumed she would have flinched, and backed off. In response, she only took a few steps forward. In a better state, he'd have a new respect for her.

"Friends help each other, don't they?" She was as stubborn as he was.

"Dammit." Stumbling, he picked himself off the ground.

_I need to get the lock._ Nausea kicked in, and Isaac found the ground racing to meet him again. Nonetheless, he was stopped about a foot away from the ground.

"You are heavy, you nyow that." That flubbing of the word sailed right over his head as he vomited.

"The Chairman just needs to fix it, right?"

"Ficsh hwat?" If he had been more astute at the moment, he would've noticed the taste of blood rising in his mouth.

"We have to go now."

"No, jusht go to my room. The lochk ish in there." Isaac glanced at her, and saw a hopeful smile. Obviously, she was freaking out, but putting up a front.

_A sponge trying to be the rock..._

"I know where it is! I'll go get it!" After setting Isaac down, she disappeared in a flash.

Isaac flipped over, staring blankly at the sky. The night was quiet, and had no loitering clouds to obstruct the stars. It might've been a peaceful moment, but the stars didn't give him solace. They were the shining reminders of the monsters that came from the inky blackness in between. The kind that fought him in body and mind now. He closed his eyes, and slowed his breathing down. He needed to calm down, which would hopefully help him.

"I GOT IT!" Using his good hand, he propped himself against a nearby tree. Shizuka had come barreling out of the tree line, completely bypassing him.

"I'm right here." He waved his hand. In a less dire situation, he would've laughed.

"Oh, right." She quickly ran over, and took a knee next to him. Isaac noticed that she wasn't passing the lock to him, and looked at her. It was obvious she was worried about him, but he could tell something else was bothering her.

"Here." The bracelet was quickly put back on, and slowly the blade receded back into his arm. The nausea also went away, and his mind cleared.

A few minutes passed as he let himself ease up, occasionally glancing at Shizuka.

"Thank you." She coughed nervously, and nodded in return. The woman kept staring at him though.

"Did the Necromorphs cause all of these?"

"Cause wh-" _My scars._

"Most of them." He stood up shakily, and Shizuka did the same less shakily.

"Most of them? Something else attacked you?" He gave a curt nod, and spit out a wad of mucus and blood.

"Unitologists. Fanatics that believed the Markers to be divine objects."

"Oh… What's a Marker again?"

"I'll tell you some other time, okay? I'm tired." Isaac adjusted the top half of his suit, now resealed, and quickly refitted it.

"Okay. It's been a stressful morning already, meow."

"You have it easy."

**Later that day**

With all his faculties back in his control again, Isaac had slept fairly well after the incident. What irked him was that the lock hadn't been on him. It had to have been purposely removed. Fat chance he would let that happen again.

His first order of business was to repair the door, and upgrade the security to the best of his ability. If someone was trying to get him to turn, he'd need to catch them as soon as possible. They threatened every life on the planet by messing with him.

"Assholes won't get in now." The doorway had been reinforced with an internal tungsten frame, along with detonator mines placed into the wall's lining. The window received a similar treatment. One thing he was grateful of was that the school didn't have central heating, so no vents to deal with. Even though he was hell bent on upgrading security, he weaseled in an upgrade to the air conditioner. The Bench produced an abundance of heat when producing components.

After all that, he pulled up his RIG hologram. There was about a week before he began teaching.

Speaking of teaching, he had to get the materials for the class. In comparison, the classes were no doubt far behind what he was taught in his time.

_I don't know where to pick up the stuff. Shizuka probably knows._ A nervous sigh escaped him, still not absolutely at peace with walking the grounds. A few of the students gave him hungry glances, the kind he'd stared down for the last decade. The recent turn of events made him even more skittish than before. Still, they weren't a problem in comparison to his own brand of monster.

Luckily, someone happened to knock on his door. Shutting down the security as he did, Isaac released the door lock.

"Come in." His cutter lay trained on the door, and his Stasis emitter glowed faintly.

"Hey, Isaac. How nyah doin'?" As he had hoped, Shizuka was there. Her tendency to add "nyah" or "meow" to her sentences was growing on him, but it was still a bit irritating at times..

"Was that on purpose?" She turned her head.

"Was what on purpose?"

"Nothing, nothing. So, what do you need?" The woman shrugged, and shifted to her other foot.

"Is something wrong, Shizuka?" An epiphany must of struck her, because her eyes lit up.

"Nope, just wanted to give you something!" A file was passed to him. It mainly contained test scores, along with other academic related materials. Isaac had been rather absorbed in reading what the students obtained, when Shizuka popped up with a resounding "OH", nearly causing Isaac to grab his cutter.

"The Chairman said to give that to you, and to talk to you about the clubs at the school! I hope you'll join my club!" She glanced at the file.

"Oh, the file is the curriculum you'll be teaching, and a list of your students, meow."

"I got that much from what I read, and what about your club?" Her already giddy attitude heightened, and that is when Isaac got worried.

"Is it a Sushi club, because if it is, I don't think I can handle raw meat anytime soon?" He'd seen plenty of his own the previous night.

"No, but that is a great idea, nyah. I run the Yokai Academy Newspaper Club, a few students work on various articles for the monthly school paper." Isaac swore he saw a glint in her eye.

"What do you do in there if the students write? Plus, I'm not much of a writer. I was an engineer, before everything else happened."

"Well…" An overly thoughtful expression descended on her face.

_She must be racking her brain for a reason. _

"How about…" She switched to her other foot.

_Still thinking_

"I give up." Slumping over in defeat, Shizuka added an even more pathetic sigh. Isaac inwardly chuckled, a rare occurrence.

"I'll see what it's like. I doubt any other club will have me, unless it's for dinner." The folder was thrown onto the bed.

"WHAT!" Shizuka had a look of shock that worried him.

"What?"

"You have a sense of humor, nyah?" _Oh..._

"Oh…" He didn't fault her on that reaction.

"So, ready to go?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

**Newspaper room**

As they approached the room, Isaac heard chattering.

_They sound excited…_

"One thing, Isaac." Both adults stopped at the door with a slightly confused Isaac. She was unusually serious.

"You'll know some of these students." Both of them slipped into the room, and Isaac's heart found its way into his throat.

"Oh no." Tsukune and the pink-haired girl were sitting in a circle with some others, and both of their eyes widened at the sight of Isaac.

"Hey, everyone. We have a prospective sponsor for the class." All the students quieted, and directed their attention to Isaac. The rest of them he'd seen around the campus, mostly fawning over the kid.

"Hello, I'm Isaac Clarke. Arithmetic teacher."

"You smell like decay." The person that spoke was a tall student, black haired, and had an air of confidence.

_Highschool pretty boy, huh. Bet he's a prick. Would not be surprised. Glad to see that it wasn't just my time plagued with them._

"Quiet, Perv." _Blue haired girl, quick to the insults. _The group quieted after that.

"So, Mr. Clarke is going to shadow the class for today to see if he would like to join us. I hope you all leave a better impression than Ginei did. See nyah in a bit!" Shizuka suddenly ducked out of the room, leaving Isaac with the class.

"So… What are you guys up to?" He swung his arms, knowing full well how awkward it was in the room.

"What type of monster are you?" _Girl with witch hat, looks too young for high school. Likely the smart one of the group._

"How about you guys introduce yourself, before I get to that."

"Tsukune Aono, I am a Ghoul."

"I'm Moka Akashiya, I am a Vampire. Good to see you are okay."

"I'm Kurumu Kurono. Succubus, and Tsukune's beloved." _Blue haired one. Really likes that Tsukune kid. _

"Yukari Sendo. I'm a Witch, and number one in the school's academic grading."

"Mizore Shirayuki. Yuki-onna and stalker." _Lavender haired girl. Another fan of Tsukune, if I were a betting man._

"Ginei Morioka. Werewolf, and I think it's your turn to tell us." _This kid needs some damn manners._ He felt old just thinking that, because his father told him something similar when he was young. Younger than these kids.

"Necromorph-Human Hybrid." Blank stares was what he got in return.

"Half Alien." A round of "Oh"s followed.

"Wait, aliens exist?" He was already dreading this.

**An hour later**

Shizuka made the conscious effort to return to the class as slow as possible, although her very own curiosity egged her on. She already knew that Isaac didn't much care for Ginei, but all the other kids should be fine. _Right?_

As usual, some cynical thoughts weeded their way into her head. She may be the avatar of cheer, but it was the only part of herself she wanted others to see. Pushing away memories that were akin to nightmares, she livened up her pace. She needed cheer, any amount will do.

On her approach to the room, she caught the sound of laughter emanating from within. She stopped a few feet away, and just listened.

"So, during my time in college, my roommate decided that he would take his father's personal ship on a joyride, and take it over to the Red-light district on the other side of the planet. Now, his name was Jeff… So, Jeff is able to get to the dock where his father holds the ship, and being the good student that I am, I follow while pleading him not to do this. Completely ignoring me, he jumps in. As soon as the door closed, I remembered that he had failed his piloting test multiple times. So, he's an unqualified and excited pilot in a heavy traffic area. Well, luckily for everyone, the ship had an innovative steering mechanism. This meant that not only was he a horrible pilot, but he was using a completely different system. As soon as he fired up the engines, he pulled back.

Now, normal systems were in the standard configuration where you pull back to raise the nose. This design moved the ship the exact same way as the wheel was moved. So, the whole ship jumped straight back, and all I hear is the muddled yowl from inside." A cough finally broke up Isaac's story, and Shizuka chose that time to enter the room.

"What are you guys up to, nyah?" Isaac had taken up a chair with the circle of students, and all had grins on their faces.

"Mr. Clarke was just telling us some stories from when he was around our age".

"Dang, he's only brooding around me. Why do you guys get the funny stories, and I only get the sad ones?"

"I'll tell you some later, plus, I think I've done as much story telling as I care to do". The man stood up, and glanced at Shizuka.

"Now, where did you run off to?" The students followed in asking, but she just shook off the question. Isaac glanced at his suit, just as beeping began to emanate. He cut it short.

"Finally." He glanced around. "I've got some work to do, so I'll take my leave." He excused himself, and made his way out.

"Alright everyone, that's enough for today. Enjoy the rest of your day!" She waited for the students to exit, before locking up the room, and followed Isaac. He was nearly jogging to his room.

"What's the big deal?"

"I used up the majority of my resources fixing up my room and equipment, so I put the rest into building a scavenger bot. I have to restock."

"You are happy for that?"

"Those bots are one of the reasons I'm still alive, so it's like meeting an old friend again." Waving his hand over the door, slight mechanical whirring could be heard from inside. The door swung open, and Isaac quickly slipped in.

"Uh, should I wait here? Or what?"

"I'm going to be out for a while. It's up to you."

"Alright, I'm going to get food. I guess I'll see you later."

"See ya, Shizuka." Leaving him to his devices, Shizuka made her way to the staff lounge.

**Isaac**

Returning at night, Isaac had come back with a decent amount of low grade ores. Various amounts of copper, iron, zinc, and other deposits made up the cargo for the bot. Isaac hadn't expected much from the area.

_I guess the lake may have some hidden pieces of Tau Volantis there, natural or not. That'll be tomorrow._ The sun had long set, so the academy and the surrounding grounds took on a strange air. It felt extremely desolate, almost as much as the Ishimura. Each window, an eye for this archaic institution to examine him.

Nonetheless, he entered the building. As he expected, there was no one else walking the halls, no one to make any noises besides him. This meant that every footfall echoed down corridors, and right back at him. He found himself getting lost in thought, and absorbed into nightmares of the Ishimura.

~ _All he could see where the aiming lasers for the cutter. Hell of a time for the flashlight to give out, was what he would say he if felt like speaking. Those monsters had forced him into this hallway after batting at him with their blades, luckily, they failed to follow._

"_Or chose not to." Isaac spun around, cutter lightly scraping the nearby wall. The voice had come from behind him, but nobody stood there. Then the scraping came._

_All around him, the walls cackled a symphony of shearing metal combined with the percussion of bursting vents. The twisted monsters from before arrived en masse from the surrounding vents, threatening to overwhelm him. As with the last few encounters, he aimed at their joints. All he could hope for, was that Nicole was safe from these things. If she was, the sooner he found her, the better._

"_Isaac? Isaac, are you okay?"_

"_Nicole? Where are you?"~_

"Isaac, who's Nicole? What are you doing out here?" Isaac glanced around again, where the metal corridors of the Ishimura gave way to the drywall of Yokai Academy. Where a Slasher stood in his memory, stood Shizuka. Unlike the normally cheery Shizuka, her hair was askew and she wore a robe. It must've been later than what he thought.

"Ugh." He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head as he did. It'd been a while since he last lost himself in thought. During that episode, he must've traveled down to the infirmary.

"Are you okay? I heard your stomping from down the hall."

"Fine, I'm fine. I just got lost in my head."

"So…" Isaac glanced at the woman, and felt that something else was different. He just couldn't place it.

"Who's Nicole? Girlfriend? Wife? Sister?"

"My ex. She, ugh, died during the first outbreak." Shizuka sighed.

"I'm sorry I asked. You were just saying her name, when I found you." That's when Isaac noticed what else was different with the woman. Her eyes were aglow, blue cat's eyes in the dark of the hall. It was strangely comforting, as well as breathtaking. She was standing there. She wasn't wearing her glasses, too. He was struck dumb in that moment.

"What's wrong?" She crooked her head to the right.

"Nothing." _Dammit, focus._

"Nothing's wrong. What are you doing up?" She smiled rather sheepishly.

"I don't know. I had a hard time falling asleep, so I went to get some milk." Her ears drooped, rustling her hair, and causing her bangs to fall in front of her eyes.

"I think we are out, though. Which is nyat good." Isaac chuckled at her little pun, and shifted the bot to his other hand. She smiled, and shifted to her other foot.

"So, how was your night, so far?"

_Strangely better, now._

"It's been fine. Nothing unusual, or problematic." Both of them stood silent in the hall for a moment, drinking in the silence that engulfed them.

"Hey, Isaac? Are you going to head to your room?"

"Yeah. We should head back." Walking back was another quiet affair, where Isaac kept glancing at Shizuka. Once or twice, he swore she was looking at him as well.

They arrived at their respective rooms soon after.

"Have a good night, Isaac."

"You too, Shizuka."

"And Isaac?"

"Yeah?" Isaac noticed that she was about to say something, but stopped herself.

"Just… Sleep well, okay?"

"Yeah, I will." Both of them entered their rooms. Isaac quietly deposited the bot into the Bench, and removed his armor.

_This isn't going to get any easier around her, isn't it?_ As he expected (And secretly hoped), nobody responded to his thought. Collapsing onto his cot, he quickly settled in and drifted into a silent slumber. A thankfully undisturbed dream.

The following day, Isaac left his room fairly early. Instead of staying with the bot, he decided to leave it to its own device. He had its guidance system pinged to return to the Bench as the old ones had done. He had a feeling that the lake would hold a few supplies that he had glanced over when he dived in.

Shortly after, he returned to his room, where a box waited for him. It was marked with his name and the word "Clothes". A gift from the Chairman, he supposed. The box was filled with various styles of clothing, seemingly capable of holding a lot more than what it should.

_It seems bigger on the inside…_ He grabbed a set of jeans, t-shirt, and a flannel long sleeve. Using a few materials, he made a small skeletonized gauntlet for his TK and Stasis modules. He also recreated the mask from the Hacker schematic he saved from Titan. It folded into a scaled down model of the RIG interface, which he planned to use as his attendance and grading system. Lastly, he made a small magnetic strip to hold his cutter. As much as he trusted a few of the kids and one faculty member here, the majority of the populace were still monsters to him. Not yet people in his eyes.

He felt vulnerable wearing this, but he knew what the Chairman meant by giving him the clothes. Isaac needed to show that he was comfortable with the people around here, a sign of mutual trust. It would take a while before he actually feels that way. Luckily, they forgot to supply shoes, so he attached his boots.

_I can still stomp things, if it came down to it. _Isaac opened the door to his room, only to be greeted by Shizuka. She was dressed in her normal teaching attire, something Isaac seemed to appreciate more than usual. Her face was tinged red, and she didn't initiate any eye contact.

"What's u-" Before he continued, Shizuka had cut him off with a kiss. He didn't know when she left, or how long he stood there in stunned silence, but he found himself missing it already.

_God dammit… _

**So, here is chapter 3. Hope you guys enjoyed it. I feel this version is a bit more mature, (a.e. MUCH more), than the original. Along with a bit better pacing, I didn't give these two proper time to get to know each other. Hell, Chapter 3 of my old one already had them getting steamy. This one, they are already feeling things, but not really acting on it. I reckon next chapter will have them dealing with them a bit more.**

**Also, if you feel so inclined, take some time to read the Rosario + Vampire manga. It finished up last year, and it isn't just fan service. The latter half really drops off the panty shots and silliness for a darker tone. It's a great read.**

**See ya next chapter, guys. Nemesis out.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, how you guys doing? Moved and had no internet for a while. Alright, to my favorite part of my author's note. **

**Sabere: I'll try to do so, and I understand. I'm just saying that it'll give you a good idea of what is happening with the kids and the world around Isaac and Shizuka. Still, thanks for the review, and did you alter Markiplier's outro? Unless… 0_0**

**GrimKid: That I did, and thanks for reading.**

**Itharax: Nice seeing you again, and maybe. I'd like to do something like that, but it may go any direction until I get to that point. **

**MasterSpecter: I'm on it.**

**Weasel: huehuehuehuehuehuehue, Wait. Why are we laughing?**

**Guest: Thanks, and it always good to see some MK&amp;HST readers!**

**Thebutterking: Thanks, and I plan to.**

**Nothing is owned by me. Have fun.**

"I'm sorry. I woke up feeling weird, and… just..." Both Isaac and Shizuka sat in the staff lounge, picking at their food.

"It's fine. Just surprised me." Neither of them really knew what to do at the moment, even eating wasn't palatable.

_Come on, man. This isn't high school, and this isn't the time. Plus, Ellie… There isn't a damn point bringing up Ellie. _Isaac glanced at his wrist, seeing the faint outline of the Holy Lock. _This is my biggest problem right now…_

"Isaac, if it is okay with you, can we just forget about this whole incident. I don't want to lose the only friend I have…"

"Yeah, of course." Isaac and Shizuka knew well enough that neither of them would forget.

"Shizuka."

"Yeah?"

"I'm no way near ready to get into anything like that again. I…" With a huff, he rubbed his face.

"I can't just give up like that, you know? I went to the edge of the universe for her." Another huff, and a chuckle followed.

"But…."

"Butt? Is my skirt too short? Am I eating too much? Don't look!" She made a few quick swipes at her skirt, then just started trying to block his view.  
"No, no, no. I can't see your butt, I'm over here." A sheepish grin covered her face, as she reminded herself that Isaac was on the other side of the table. There her credit, it was a small table.

"I probably never told you about Titan, did I?" A simple shake of her head told him everything.

"You remember when I told you about the Ishimura, about Nicole?"

"Yep!" When it related to his past, she was all ears.

"How the Marker fucked with my head, used Nicole to get me to do its dirty work, and started this whole fucked up chain of events." A less enthusiastic reply was given this time around, as well as the drooping of cat ears.

"On Titan, a station built on the remains of one of Saturn's moons, Earth-Gov recreated the Marker using codes imprinted in my head. This triggered another outbreak… Along with my hallucinations of Nicole." Isaac's hand drifted off the table, and settled on his cutter. Which he did carry around still. It was his lucky charm, his anchor.

"This time was... horrible. They prodded me, blamed me, tricked me, and attacked me. All in the hope that I would give up." His parlor drained of color as he recalled one particular incident.

"One particular time, the first time that it really a struck me that I was fighting myself was when I crawled out of a maintenance shaft. As soon as I put my foot on the ground, I was wrenched around by Nicole. This wasn't the same Nicole as what I remembered, she was bloodied and pale. Out of nowhere, she began to try a stab me in the eye with a syringe, and it took everything in me to fight her off. Eventually, the hallucination passed, and I stood in the room for a moment. I was gripping my own damn arm, which had the syringe. I was fighting off myself, and I almost lost every time that I saw her. The Marker, no, the Moons, used my inability to move on to try and destroy me."

"But why you?"

"Because I was the only one who could stop it. The codes in my head worked both ways, creation and destruction. But, the damage was done by the time I destroyed the Titan Marker. I had a hard time believing anything I saw or heard, I was in a hell of my own that was nestled right. In. Here." Light knocks on the side of his head punctuated the last few words. He shifted in his seat, and checked his RIG display.

"I'm off topic, aren't I?" The hand that had lied on his cutter returned to the table, and Isaac took a swig of the now cold cup of coffee.

"I guess it just comes down to moving on with my life. Being stubborn only dug me a deeper hell." A somber thought crossed his mind, and Shizuka picked up on it.

"There's a but at the end, isn't there? You know, one that isn't mine?" Their light chuckle filled the lounge briefly, but they returned to silence soon after.

"The Necromorphs still haunt me, Shizuka. Not just psychologically, but genetically as well. I'm fighting for my own damn cells, and I'm not sure if it is transmittable. That's why I can't, that's why we can't."

"I understand…" They sat in silence for a little while till the bells for class rang out. They deposited their cups, and bid each other a goodbye.

**-A week later, spring classes- **

"So, times up, class. Turn in your papers." Over the last week, Isaac had figured out his students fairly well, and became well-adjusted to the workings of the school. Who would cheat, who had no clue, and who had a decent head on their shoulders. As well as those he liked to call "Shit-heads" for obvious reasons. Yet, he learned fairly quickly to keep his eye on the members of the Newspaper club.

That group was always involved in something dangerous. They were either fighting some rebellious group or each other for who would marry Tsukune. The thought that if an outbreak ever occurred, the kids would definitely be capable of handling any encounter.

On a side note, he did have to hand it to the kid, Tsukune was definitely the chick magnet that Isaac never was. Although, at Tsukune's age, he wasn't looking for it. His life had been upended by his own mother. Which had been the platform for his initial distrust of Unitology, seeing as how his mother spent his saved tuition money to be a vested member.

W_hat would have happened if she didn't join?_ That question had never crossed his mind before. Everything he had done hinged on his education, one way or another. A better university would have netted him a better job, and he probably wouldn't have met Nicole. It was likely that he would have never made contact with the Marker, until it was too late.

Stirring from his thoughts, everyone had turned in their paper, and Isaac could leave now. He waited for the bell to release them though, seeing as some of them were rearing to go already. The bell rang, and everyone filed out.

Swiftly grabbing his jacket, he locked up the room, and went on his way to his room. He received a few hellos from passing students, which he responded in kind. Isaac had noticed that the people here were slowly becoming pleasant to him. It still jarred him a bit to remember that they were all monsters, him included.

"Hey, Isaac?" It may have been a little over a week ago, but every time he heard Shizuka, he remembered her ambush at his door. A few stray thoughts popped into his head, but he shrugged them off.

He turned to the Nekomusume. She was wearing her usual white blouse, orange undershirt, and skirt.

"Are you going to be at the meeting, meow? The clubbies want to see if you could help them fix up the printer."

"You mean they want me to make them one?" He grinned. The "clubbies" were always trying to improve their little operation with "future tech" courtesy of Isaac's Bench. It didn't always work out too well for everyone though.

"I'll be there. Tell them that they need to pay for my work this time. You remember their little drone incident?" Shizuka sighed.

"Well, yeah. I mean it is sorta your fault, meow."

"I told them I'm not a programmer, I just winded up copying the VI from my Scavenger bot." An accusing look was thrown his way.

"Hey, it's not my fault that the Earth Elemental had a heart of platinum. I'm still new to this. I can't do everything those kids expect me to do."

"Yeah, they do expect a lot from you. Well, I'll see nyah there." Shizuka waved as she left, and Isaac went into his room. He dropped the papers onto his desk, and collapsed onto his bed. A small alert went off, reminding him of a small project he had planned to do. Activating his RIG, he pulled up his recording program, and activated it.

"Audio Diary, Isaac Clarke." Lazily, he scratched his chin, and felt the scruff building up on his face.

"I am a teacher at Yokai Academy…" He shook his head, and deleted the recording.

_This won't do._

"Audio Diary of Isaac Clarke, Ex-CEC engineer and current Yokai Academy faculty. I am making this as a means to recount all that has happened since my arrival here at Yokai Academy." _I guess this will work, sounds formal enough._

He emerged from his room a few minutes later with a soured mood. Starting up that recording, he had knew that he wouldn't be cheery for much longer. So, not feeling in the mood to have anyone ask what's wrong, he forced a small grin. It would probably fool a few people, probably not Shizuka now that he thought about it. She could read him like a book.

_That probably wasn't the best thing to do today, or any day for that matter. Still, the club is probably waiting for me._ The walk to the room was as quiet as usual, most of the students were likely in their rooms already.

The club door was open, and Isaac could already hear Kurumu threatening Gin. Along with that little ruckus, he could hear Tsukune chatting up Moka. No doubt that Mizore would be breaking up anything too friendly.

_What a welcome, isn't it? _Not surprisingly, the majority of the students were busy scrawling their articles, or messing with each other. The old machine that was the printer was tucked away into a corner, and looked a decade past its expected lifespan. The plastic casing was cracked, especially where past students had kicked the machine when it sputtered. What metal parts were seen had a large coat of rust, and looked at the point of breaking. At the moment, a student was repeating the abusive act of beating the machine.

"Ease up on the machine, will ya? It isn't hurting anyone." Yukari, the perpetrator of the beating, nearly jumped out of her skin. The witch quickly slipped back to her chair, and started fidgeting with a paper. Everyone else just looked at him, and said their "Hi, Mr. Clarke"s or "Hey, Isaac"s.

"So, when was the last time this thing had a technician look at it, or is there even one for it?" Everyone shrugged.

_I guess that explains everything. I'll do what I can to it, but I am a ship engineer, not an office technician._ Popping open the side panel, the problem was presented to him as clear as day. Almost all of the internal components were rusted over, an obvious side effect of the ocean air. It was surprising this thing had lasted this long, and he would probably need to remake them.

_Either that or buy a new printer. _He put the side panel back on to the machine, and wiped his hands off on his jeans.

"Alright, the printer is done for. All the metal components are rusted, and I can't tell what half of these components do. So, it may be simpler just to try and get a new one." He looked around, and saw that everyone was off in their own world again.

_Of course, I'm here to fix it. _Brushing off some more of the rust, he stood up. He needed to put in a request, and thought it would be a prime example to talk to the Chairman about his ailment.

"Hey, guys." Shizuka had been absent from the room, and he saw why. She was cradling a hefty pile of printing paper in her arms, and looked a bit disheveled as she shifted the pile around.

"Need help with that?" He was answered with a vigorous nodding. Isaac lifted the majority of the paper out of her hands, and moved out of her way as she jogged past.

"So", both adults dropped the paper into a small storage cabinet," Where are you heading to, nyah?"

"The printer is FUBAR. I need to put in a request for a new printer to the Chairman." Shifting the box to her other side. She nodded.

"What is FUBAR?"

"Some military slang that a friend of mine used to say. In this case, it means fucked up beyond all repair."

"Alrighty. Can we still use it? The paper goes out tomorrow, and the clubbies put in a lot of work." Absently scratching the scruff that has accumulated in the past week, he shrugged.

"You guys can try, but the rust damage is pretty extensive. Don't be surprised if the prints are off." Shizuka nodded again, but neither side made any attempt to move. Isaac looked around the room a few times, only glancing at Shizuka occasionally. He had a feeling she was doing the same.

"Alright, I'm going to see the Chairman."

"Yeah, I'm just going to head to my desk, and do stuff. Have fun with the uh… Chairman…" Turning on his heel, he started heading to the upper floor of the school. That was the most that they had talked in a casual way since the incident. It really did not make sense to him. Hell, when he was younger, it would have been a simple thing.

_No room for optimism, huh_. Through his hesitation, he did like her. It didn't help that he found himself forgetting things. Nothing too important, but they were memories of Ellie.

_Now is not the time for this..._

The walk to the Chairman's office was a short and quiet affair, only interrupted when he arrived at the room. He was stopped by Ruby, another witch that had a crush on Tsukune. What he gathered from the group's little talks was that Ruby was a masochist with a long story for everything. Not really someone that he wanted to talk to. He had seen her around the grounds, but always dressed in different outfits.

"Weren't you just the groundskeeper earlier today, and the plumber last week?" The girl put down a small stack of papers, and adjusted lens-less glasses.

_She doesn't even need to wear those..._

"Well, it's a long story…" _Okay..._

"I'm in a hurry, Ms. Tojo." She apparently brushed off the comment.

"So, what can I help you with?"

"Is the Chairman in? I need to talk to him about equipment replacement, and an update on my situation." For the second time, she adjusted the glasses, and pulled up a list.

"Let's see. It's almost 5, aaaand here you are. 5 o'clock, Isaac Clarke. Printer replacement and Necromorphic purge update."

_I'm not even surprised that he knew._ The witch dropped the list, and fished a small folder from her desk.

"He is not in at the moment, but he did plan ahead. This is the receipt for the printer that should arrive later today, and this… I don't know what this is." As soon as she pulled the small capsule out, Isaac inwardly groaned. He swept up everything he needed, and lightly fiddled with the capsule.

_Where the hell did he get a RIG memory drive?_

"Thanks. I should probably get back to… What are you doing?" Ruby had dropped the glasses, and put on a strange blue hat.

"I am running security for the grounds from 5:30 to 10. It's a long story."

"I bet it is…" As politely as possible, he left. He already felt uncomfortable enough, and was dying to see what was on drive.

_Hopefully not… _Using the wireless connection that the RIG produced, he transferred the video file to his own, and queued video playback. The projected screen showed the Chairman grinning with his eyes alight.

_Like usual._

"**Afternoon, Mr. Clarke. My apologies for being away, I'm sure you would much rather hear my update in person**." This guy always made his skin crawl.

"Not really."

"**At this time, your spirit is constantly shifting. This makes separating you and the intruder much more difficult, and any attempt to remove it now would likely destroy your spirit alongside it. I suggest coming to terms with everything around you, and finding some inner peace."** The lecherous grin grew a bit wider.

"**And that means confronting Ms. Nekonome about that little incident between you two**."

_Is there something this guy doesn't know?_

"**There are a few things, but not much. One last thing, I do suggest preventing injury any chance you get. For your sake, as well as everyone else's.**" Isaac shut off the recording, thoroughly irritated by the Chairman's strange omnipotence. He didn't need any guidance about his life, all he needed was the Necromorph shit out of him. Yet, the spiel about not getting hurt did worry him.

"Mr. Clarke!" Ruby came barreling around the corner, flailing a paper.

"The Chairmen had a secondary note saying that it isn't transmittable as long as you are wearing the lock." She didn't even stop, and just ran past.

_The hell…_

Nonetheless, he started to head back to the Newspaper room. They needed to know that a new printer was on its way.

_And what the hell does he mean my spirit is shifting? I thought the talk sorted that out. _Spirituality wasn't something that he thought about, even now when he was surrounded by supernatural entities. The walk was fairly quiet, due to his downtrodden look.

"Is everything okay, Isaac? You look confused." He glanced up, and saw the Nekomusume standing with another set of boxes. This pile was much taller than the last, but it didn't seem to bother her.

"Yeah, just thinking about a few things. Let me help with those." Pulling the top half of the pile off the stack with Kinesis, both adults began to walk to the class.

"What are you doing all the way over here?"

"Our stockroom ran out. All the prints we sent through came out horrible, so we needed more paper. What did the Chairman say, nyah?" Isaac fished out the receipt from his jacket, and passed it to her.

"The Chairman thought ahead. We'll be getting it later today."

"That's great! The clubbies will be excited!" Isaac absently nodded. Arriving at the room, Isaac spotted a large cardboard box placed next to the rust bucket. Next to the box with a hand-truck was Ruby, dressed up in a jumpsuit and with grease smeared on her cheeks. Isaac swore that she had said that she was up to running security by now.

"Another long story?"

"Another long story." The witch quickly wheeled the hand truck out, and left the rusted printer in the room.

"Aren't you going to grab the old one?"

"No, I am supposed to be coaching the swim team!" He couldn't have been any less surprised at her comment.

_No shit._ Glancing back into the room, Isaac saw all of the students looking at him.

"What?" Shizuka leaned in a bit closer.

"I think they want you to get to work, nyah."

_No shit._

"I'll set up the new one. Could you guys take out the old one?" The majority of them stared at him, not moving a muscle.

"I'll be back to scrap it."

**-A few hours later-**

"If they ask me to do one more thing for them for the next week or so, I'm punching Gin in the throat." Isaac and Shizuka were walking back to their rooms, and Isaac was fairly disgruntled seeing as the machine was more of a pain than what is was worth. Everything with that machine felt overly complicated.

Shizuka lightly chuckled at Isaac, but had cut herself short.

"Isaac, are we… you know… Okay? I mean, we're still talking, but it's always awkward between us, nyah." Isaac stopped instantly, and looked around.

_What the hell do I say? _

"I really screwed up, didn't I? I mean you still love Ellie, and it's only bee-"

"Shizuka, remember what I talked to you about?" Isaac faced her, and saw exactly what he expected. She had started to cry, but was trying to tough it out. He had to hand it to her,

"As long as I keep the lock on, we can…"

"We can…" He nervously rubbed the back of his head.

"We can give it a try." Shizuka gave Isaac an inquisitive look, unsure of what he was saying.

_Fuck it._ She must've been a bit unprepared as Isaac pulled her close.

"What d-" He cut her question off with a kiss. For a moment, she stood stunned, but was soon wrapped up in the moment as well. Eventually, they broke it up for a breather.

Isaac could only admire her in the surprised state she was in. Her face was beet red, and she was nervously giggling to herself. He swore that there was a glow to her, something that she hadn't shown before.

"Could we give that another try, nyah?" Even though she asked, she pulled Isaac back in before he could answer. The world around them faded into the background, and they might have stayed that way. In retrospect, both of them agreed that they should've moved farther along the corridor before getting into it.

"Hey, guys! Get back here, the teachers are getting frisky!" The same thought raced through both of their heads at that moment.

_OH SHIT!_ Kurumu was standing down the hall with the other clubbies popping around the corner. From their perspective, they must've seen Shizuka with a hold of Isaac's shirt, and both of their teacher's eyes bulging out of their heads.

"Uh. No, no, no, no, no, no, we were…." Shizuka quickly released Isaac's shirt, and flattened her hair. Isaac fixed his shirt, and looked back at the clubbies.

"We were kissing. What do you need?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thought you two needed some air."

"Doesn't Tsukune need air every time you smother him?" Kurumu stood firm, but her smirk faultered. The others were smiling with an occasional "finally" thrown in.

"Alright, guys. Just go." With a collective sigh, the students disappeared, leaving Shizuka and Isaac to look back at each other. Even though they had been found out, Isaac felt better than what he had felt in the past week. Another thought crossed his mind, one that considered it odd how the kids just left.

"So, yeah."

"We should head to our rooms."

"Yeah." Free and clear as they were, both of them made a speedy retreat to their respective rooms.

"See nyah tomorrow, Isaac!" As she closed her door, she threw a wink Isaac's way.

"See ya." He closed his door, and locked it up.

**-July-**

"_It's been awhile since I did a recording, hasn't it? Well, here we go. It has been strangely peaceful the last few months, considering the life that the Newspaper club lives. A few issues have popped up, and they handle it all. I haven't been forced to do anything rash, so I'm happy._

_I'm getting along with them fairly well, but one thing bothers me. The girls have started asking me to help them nab Tsukune. I do talk to the kid, but they know more about him than I do. It still doesn't help me when one of the girls corners me for info, or in Mizore's case, tries to listen in. I'd rather not fight them, and something tells me that they are probably a lot harder to fight than any Necromorph. I do admit that they are all growing on me. They all have their problems with each other, but they work together when someone gets hurt. Mainly, if the kid gets hurt. That reminds me, I haven't talked to Moka about that whole silver-haired her, but what I keep hearing is that there is two versions of her in one body. I'd like to say that I understand, but my dark passenger wants to kill everything. I hear their relationship is sibling-like, lucky them. _

_Mizore is the one that shows up the most, and Moka the least. Kurumu is just short of a train wreck, and Yukari… I can't believe what that girl says. Luckily, I haven't had to deal with Ruby and Kokoa. Unfortunately, I'm sorta protective of all the kids. As much as I tried to stay outta their business, I have had to step in, at the cost of the majority of my med-kits. I'm sure the Chairman could help with that. Which still bothers me._

_ Another point to bring up is Shizuka. Even though we are dating, we've gone back to just having lunch or dinner together. Occasionally, we head out to the lake to watch a holo-film or one of her converted films. She got a kick out of "Kitty Kitty Bang Bang", and not just because it says "kitty" in the title. I did enjoy one film she had, I think it was called "Batman Begins"? Yeah, that was it. Pretty weird guy, dresses like a bat, which I think was some mammal. I'm still not all there with my animals._

_I would never want to face that Crane guy, though. I already lost it a few times, and that gas would probably be the end of me. That movie brings me to the next little tidbit about Shizuka._

_ She loves comic books and visual novels. Especially when they feature cat-themed characters. Her walls are absolutely plastered with posters of Catwoman, Black Cat, and some others. I hope I got the names right, they are simple enough. Some posters are a bit risqué, but it is not my room. IT WAS, CRAP…_

_Damn, mic level. Sorry, what was I saying? Oh, it was sort of funny when she invited me in. I'm sure she was nervous to show me her little collection. I can see why._

_ All in all, I've been feeling better. So, uh, end recording."_

As usual, he woke up to the hum of the air conditioner. The cold air helped keep him from drifting off again. He rolled off the futon, and snagged his RIG. As usual, the pinch on his spine helped wake him up a bit more.

Quietly grabbing a simple flannel, jeans, and boots as today's scrounged up ensemble. This and his cutter, of course. A breakfast of oatmeal and cranberries graced his stomach with an orange juice chaser. Which had become his breakfast ritual, a welcome change from the modified food he'd eaten in his time. It was funny how humanity had advanced, but the food only got worse.

The last thing he nabbed was his holographic projector. Isaac still didn't care much for paper or dry erase boards. He always saw them as wasteful things, but it worked well enough for the current era. Getting back to the moment, he left and locked up his room.

Surprisingly, Shizuka wasn't there to greet him. The hallway was empty, and that fact set Isaac on edge.

His cutter had already found its way into his hand as he took a few steps towards the opposing room. The familiar weight of the tool helped his nerves, but it did very little to ease his paranoia.

_Why is it so quiet? _A myriad of possibilities floated through his head, but as the past few times have indicated, nothing as whimsical as a school play was likely. A few light knocks on Shizuka's door yielded nothing.

"Hey Shizuka, you in there?" Nothing yet again.

"What is going on here?" What could he do? As much as he expected Necromorphs again, his eye didn't hurt. His new connection to the creatures would probably give him a heads-up, anyways. The thought that he was the only Necromorph-like creature around did cross his mind, but that paranoia only egged him on.

Knocking on the door harder resulted in the same lack of response, and calling her phone didn't work either. The thought that he missed something was starting to creep up his spine. Somebody should have walked by, or he should have heard Ruby over the PA call for a student or faculty member. Or he should have just looked out the window.

The students and faculty were outside, listening to the Chairman.

_Apparently, he's back._ Clipping the cutter back onto his leg, he quickly made his way downstairs. No doubt in his mind that he missed something important, maybe it was why the place was so damn warm. He had looked it over, too wrapped up in the moment. The more he thought about the heat, the more he felt it as he went down.

"Finally. As you all may know, the temperature has increased drastically. For some of you, this presents a problem. I will have this resolved over the weekend, but until then, I suggest going home. Have a great weekend."

_Tail end of the speech, huh. I'll ask Shizuka._ The old term "Speak of the Devil" came to mind as said woman made her way to him, skipping as she did so. She was obviously uncomfortable in the heat, and was sweating up a storm. It made it horribly obvious that she wasn't wearing a bra, not that he was arguing.

"Where were you, meow? I knocked on your door."

"I guess I slept pretty heavy. What did I miss?" She shrugged, letting her ears flick as well.

"Nyat much. A few changes to student curfew, a new menu for the cafeteria, and the heat problem. I hope they didn't get rid of the salmon gumbo."

_Salmon gumbo?_

"I think you have a more pressing matter at the moment." For some reason or another, the color drained out of her face as soon as he said that.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, I can tell that you go commando in one way." Glancing down, she let out a small cry, and pulled her blouse closed. Her eyes went wide as she looked around, and her face became a more intense shade of red. Isaac also noticed that her actual ears lowered. Luckily for her, the students walked past her and Isaac without a second thought.

"Oh, noooooo. What did you see?"

"Plenty." Another "Oh, nooo" followed, and she fled behind Isaac.

"Can we just go inside?"

"Of course." They quietly sifted into the crowds of students, making sure to conceal her at every turn.

"To your room?" The hidden feline shook her head, and murmured that she kept an emergency set of clothes stashed in her desk.

"Why do you have an emergency set?"

"I'm a bit of a klutz, nyah." He didn't expect anything less, and didn't need to know anymore. His gut told him that if he asked for more, they would both regret getting into that whole conversation.

"I'll be quick!" She ran past him with an awkward stance, but cleared the hall unnaturally fast. No doubt that it was one of her natural abilities, or supernatural abilities to be a bit more accurate.

_I hope I never have to run from her._ The room was closed off when he arrived, but the occasional clattering told him she was in there.

"Having a hard time in there?"

"NO! I'M FINE!" A hefty thud followed, along with a yelp.

"Aren't you just switching out your shirt?"

"Ye- OH NO!" The sound of tumbling came from inside, and against his better judgment that she just fell, he went in.

He couldn't help it when he saw her, and instantly began to chuckle. She was lying in a stack of papers with the remains of the Newspaper club's poster supplies splattered around her, and like her earlier embarrassment, her face was crimson. A heavy layer of glitter coated her too, adding to the situation. Luckily for her, she failed to take her shirt off. It was only bunched up, revealing some of her stomach.

"DON'T LAUGH!"

"At least you are sorta covered." Not one to just stand about, he helped her up, and passed his coat on. She willingly took it, and looked at the floor.

"Your room, now?" A solemn nod was his reply.

"Let's g-". Now, it was Shizuka's chance to laugh as Isaac slipped on an upended bottle of glossy paint. Followed up by collapsing into a pile of spilt glitter.

"Crap." Now both of them were evenly coated, and looking disheveled. If anyone looked at them in broad daylight, they would've gone blind.

"I guess this is what I get."

"Told you not to laugh." At least one of them had their sunny disposition back.

"You did. So, let's call it a draw. I think we've had enough incidents today." They went quiet for a moment, and checked themselves over. Shizuka groaned, and Isaac just sighed. It hadn't been the worst thing he got on him.

"Ugh, it'll take forever to get it out of my hair, and my back hurts." The sound of vertebrae popping rang out.

"Well, it shouldn't have been so hard to take off your shirt."

"I know, I know. Oh, I hope the clubbies don't see this."

"Why? They know how you are, and I think they wouldn't be surprised that I was involved."  
"Can we just go?"

"Yeah." Both Isaac and Shizuka were rearing to run to their rooms, but stopped dead in their tracks as they opened the door. On the other side, stood the club members. Each of them were red in the face, and looking away from the messy faculty.

"Did you two have fun?" Kurumu, through an awkward smile, gave Shizuka a wink. She was being cheeky, even though it was obvious that she was uncomfortable.

_Wait… Oh, goddamit. _Isaac questioned his very existence at the moment. A few glances were exchanged, and then Shizuka broke her silence. In the back of his mind, he swore that they must've looked like tomatoes at the moment.

"No, wait. We didn't, I mean it wouldn't be a bad thing, but we didn't."

"Let's just go, and you guys get your minds out of the gutter." They didn't even give the kids a chance, as they ran off to their rooms. A heavy trail of glitter was left in their wake.

_This day's gone to the dogs, and it isn't even noon._ Following this, they took separate and very thorough showers to not only wash away the mess, but to try and figure out what to do,

Unfortunately, the mixture of paint and glitter proved to be a harsh task to remove for Shizuka. Her shower was left looking like an epileptic artist's work, but she did enjoy the colors mixing as they were washed away. A small inkling of a distraction from the awkwardness of the day.

Luckily for Isaac, his clothes had taken the brunt of the colorful coating. His shower had only taken him a few minutes, and he was already dressed by the time Shizuka finished her hair.

His suit had been left on his bed from his small closet clean up, so he had dragged that on. As well as being nostalgic, he found it extremely comfortable back in his suit, especially when his helmet was on.

"Hello? Mr. Clarke?"

_What now? _Irritated or not, he answered the door, and was greeted by Tsukune. Greeted was a bit of a stretch as the ghoul jumped when he caught sight of the re-armored Isaac.

"What do you want, kid?"

"Why are you wearing that?" Isaac shrugged.

"It's pretty comfy. What can I help you with?"

"Oh, yeah. I just thought to tell you that Mizore invited me and the others to go to her home. We'll be leaving in a few hours."

_ No surprise there. _

"Alright, have a good weekend. " He began to close the door.

"Wait. Mizore wants you and Ms. Nekonome to go, too."

"Why?" The kid shrugged.

"I'll see, okay? Knowing you guys, it may not be a restful weekend."

"Alright, we'll be at the bus stop if you two want to come with."

"See ya."

_I'm afraid to even ask her. _Regardless, Mizore apparently invited them. It'd be rude to not even respond. As he had done earlier, he crossed the hall and knocked.

"Shizuka, you decent?"

"IN THE SHOWER STILL! JUST COME IN!"

_Okay._ He tried the door, and quietly entered seeing as it was open.

"You should keep the door locked. People can just walk in." The room was a lot more homey than his own. Cluttered walls, a messy bed, pile of clothes, and a television. His was more like a sterile workroom with a futon, so he enjoyed coming over when he did.

"You are the only one that comes over." The sound of the running shower cut off, and the bathroom door cracked open.

"Could you pass me the robe on the chair, please?" It was nothing more than a silk bag with short sleeves.

"You mean the bag with sleeves?"

"It is not that bad! A towel wouldn't be any better!"

"With how this is, a towel would cover you better." There was a huff, then Shizuka popped out of the room.

"Well, maybe a bigger towel would." The poor piece of cloth could only be a two by two foot rag. It covered her, but Isaac still had a prime view of her. To be honest with himself, he had been very reluctant to look her over. Not for any reason in particular, he just did. Which he was slightly regretting now.

The towel did little to hide her shape, lithe but well endowed. The body of a gymnast with a bit more to carry around. He found it funny how her clothes made her seem less filled-out. A cruel illusion if he had to say so himself.

"I'll wait outside. Just needed to see if you wanted to go with the club to Mizore's home, apparently she invited us too." As soon as he finished, he stepped out with the image of her burned into his memory. A far more pleasant memory than the majority of the other burned-in ones.

**-An hour later-**

"Are you sure about this?" Isaac received the brunt of a punch to the arm, and glared at Shizuka.

"You worry too much, nyah! It'll be fun, we'll have a great time!"

"Your stomach will. She promised you an all-you-can-eat buffet, right?" A complaint was on the way, but she quietly shied away. Thoughts of worry and fish were pushed aside as they were heading to the bus stop that linked Yokai Academy to the outer world. A world that Isaac was honestly afraid to see, even Necromorphs were a preferable alternative.

"Shizuka? Have you gone to the human world?"

"Yep, I have a house there. Why?" There was a moment of hesitation for Isaac, but he didn't have to tell her just yet. They were intercepted by the lively students, which Isaac noted that Mizore wasn't a part of. He could see the stress in how she looked around, especially at her worried glances at the resident ghoul. This wasn't just a friendly invitation, that much he was sure of. At least he had the sense to wear his suit. His cutter was tucked away in his bag, but would be easy enough to draw if the need was there.

"Hey, guys!" As he expected, the ecstatic ones erupted in glee.

_They must've thought we wouldn't be coming. _One thing he noticed was how Mizore was acting. She wasn't her stoic self, and looked on edge. It wasn't unusual for her to stare at Tsukune, but Isaac noticed her stares to be a bit more desperate. It didn't take a detective to tell something was up.

_Why did she invite us? She's worried about something. _Shizuka drifted into the pack of girls, while Isaac stayed watching the tunnel and the Yuki-onna.

"What's wrong, Mr. Clarke?" Unsurprisingly, his fellow time-bomb walked over. It was obvious that the kid was excited, but it only made him more uneasy. Something bad was going to happen, it always did. He didn't need pain behind his eye to tell him that.

"I've always hated traveling, kid. Something always gets in the way."

"We'll be fine, it's just the weekend." The enthusiasm this kid had make him nostalgic for his pre-Ishimura self. An enthusiastic, hopeful Isaac who was ready to settle down. One who had taken some vacation time to search for a perfect place to stay for the honeymoon. One who had saved a few months' worth of pay to get a ring, but never got around to it. All of that had been ruined in the span of a day. The Isaac that was left after all of this was paranoid, schizophrenic, and lost. An Isaac he wanted gone.

"A lot can happen in a weekend kid, and not all of it can be good." Rumbling caught Isaac's attention, which was just the sound of a combustion engine emanating from the tunnel. Everyone snatched up their belongings, some less excitedly than others. He threw a glance at the ensemble again, and his gut sank lower.

_I should have asked the resident fortuneteller what the weekend's forecast will be._

**All right, guys. A few notes. I'm flat out saying that Shizuka is 46. The only hint we get of her age is in the anime. She says that she feels 30 years younger when wearing a cheer outfit. So…yeah.**

**Chronologically, Isaac is 49ish. Maybe 50. Although he spent nearly 3 years in stasis. **

**I also need to say one thing. I sorta had a breakdown, and I feel different. I'm unsure of how this has affected my writing, BUT I'm feeling better day by day. I'm writing to get better, that's why this chapter is a bit longer (It would have been a lot longer, but I divided it). A few bad transitions intermixed, but I had to get it out. I have plenty left in my repertoire, so don't worry.**

**And the final note, thanks for reading. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again, guys. It's been a while, huh? My apologies, went retro with my writing to get some perspective. Good to see all of you, though. As with the every chapter, on to the responses:**

**Weasel: That's perfectly fine. It always good to laugh for no reason… I think.**

**Itharax: Thank you, and that is what this little section is for. A small dialogue between reader and writer.**

**Sabere: I completely understand. I felt off, and was trying to get my head in the write place… Alright, that was bad. I reckon something will happen along that line, but I'm not sure what I will set up, but as always, I'll keep you and the other readers updated every chapter. I do hope I can make it seem much darker than Tsukune's paltry transformations though.**

**ButterKing: Sadly, I did. I'm much better now, and I hope that life is treating you well. One thing though; your post-script surprised me. I don't really expect any chapter to be good, just because I don't feel like a good writer. I'm definitely a slow writer.**

**Mastermind: I'm thinking he will, at least in one way or another. It may not happen in this chapter.**

Isaac expected to see an overweight man with quite a bit of scruff driving the bus, something that he remembered from his youth. Although the bus he remembered was running on impulse engines, and was capable of prolonged flight. Unfortunately, the driver at this moment was very much like another person that he had met here.

The guy had the same glowing eyes as the Chairman, but this guy had a few differences. Firstly, he smoked, and heavily by what the inside of the bus reeked of. One thing he hoped for was that this guy wasn't as mysterious, but he had the feeling that they were very much alike.

"Nice to see you again, kid. Hope you packed warm, I hear there is a nasty storm on the way." That was his hopes shot to shit, or maybe it was him being paranoid. It was always his good old friend paranoia's job to kill the mood. It was frustrating that no one else got the sense of foreboding, but Isaac spared a moment to overlook the driver again.

"Enjoying your time here, Mr. Clarke? I hear that the cat got your tongue." A few chuckles followed, but he didn't join in.

"Yeah. Great time." He stowed his bag, and sat down next to Shizuka. At the moment, he was more than ready to just take a nap. Seeing how eventful the day already was, it sounded like the only option that left him with a sound mind. In fact, he even went so far as to ball up his jacket as a pillow.

"Would you wake me up when we get there?"

"You really don't have to do that, it'll only take a few minutes. The tunnel is weird that way."

"What do you mean?" This time, the driver spoke up.

"It's a dimensional tunnel, linked to various realms of the world. Mainly for the convenience of shuttling various children to the school. It only takes a few minutes to get anywhere in the world."

_Huh, sounds a little like Shockpoint, only a little._ The memory of him cracking open the drive that dragged him here popped._ Also sounds more stable._

"I'm guessing it is all magic based." A tip of the hat was his response. Bus driver or Chairmen, they were equally as cheeky to Isaac.

"Alright."

"First time through is a sight to behold, Mr. Clarke. Nothing else cuts it."

_If this guy isn't the Chairmen in disguise, he has to be his brother. If they aren't related, that'll be surprising. _The bus kicked into life, and began coasting towards the tunnel entrance. He couldn't remember the last time he rode in a land-based vehicle, not to mention a land-based combustion engine vehicle.

The ride was bumpy until they entered the tunnel, where it smoothed out. The further in that they went, the more the light drained around him. Yet another concept that continued to increase Isaac's paranoia. For a moment, the only sources of light were on the bus's dashboard and the eyes of the Driver. Before a useful thought crossed his mind, he was bombarded with a cataclysm of lights. He cursed the very thought that he had allowed himself to leave his helmet disassembled.

"So, have you seen anything like, nyah?" He ignored the other implication of what she said, and shook his head.

"Wait. Eyes hurt." Luckily, by the time he opened his eyes again, the lights were far less intense. It was a pleasant surprise to see what looked like Shock space, but a bit more vibrant.

"So?"

"Something like it, yeah. The inside of our faster-than-light travel looked like a blue version of this tunnel. It was a bit more soothing to look at than this."

"Cool." A few minutes passed, and they all spotted the exit to the tunnel coming up. It seemed that they hadn't lied about the travel time, but it still bothered him. The whole concept of magic, that is. He wasn't a physicist, but he at least had a broad understanding of his own world's workings. A unique one though.

Isaac came back to the moment as the tunnel grew closer. Naturally, voices started to rise, but they were all silenced as soon as they cleared the tunnel. It was Tau Volantis all over again, even so far as the unexpected ejection.

"Hope you all like the snow!" In the blink of an eye, everyone on board found themselves standing out in a horrendous blizzard with their stuff, and the bus already heading back into the tunnel. Where the majority of them just gawked, Isaac kicked into gear with the assembling of his helmet.

"What the hell was that for? Everyone grab your coats, throw on whatever is warm! Huddle up, but no smothering, Kurumu!" As he expected, the girls flocked to Tsukune. Shizuka clutched onto his arm, her teeth already chattering. The only person to be separate was the one who was at home in the frozen fracas.

"Mizore, where the hell are we going?"

"Just over here. I thought all of you would like to see this." Mizore took the lead up a hill, while Isaac kept checking on everyone else. The majority of them were caught off guard, but they had prepared well, marginally. Their enthusiasm had been the only thing to really freeze over.

"Can't you do something about this?" Obviously, Kurumu was getting more agitated than the others. She was even adopting her usual combative stance, and had started to encroach on the snow girl.

"I don't need to." They all hit the top of the hill, and then the sky suddenly cleared to reveal a winter world. Spires of ice blanketed with snow, and glistening in the suddenly clear sky. The one thing that he noticed the most were the trees. Living trees in comparison to the skeletons that litter the grounds of the academy. Isaac didn't have much to say, except that it looked a lot more pleasant than the last freezer he visited.

"Well, this is definitely a better sight than Tau Volantis." The group started moving down the hill towards the city, but Isaac and Shizuka were left in the snow as the others took off.

"This place is beautiful, don't nyah think?"

"It definitely is." Their tread was a tad slower than the others', but the kids had been stopped by a woman with light blue hair. If he had to guess, it would likely be Mizore's mother. Unless Yuki-onna looked like each other, which he was sure was likely racism. Definitely not something he would be repeating.

It seemed that the woman had already messed with Tsukune, seeing as he was on the floor with his nose bleeding. That kid always broke out with those whenever something lewd happened, which happened a bit too much for Isaac's liking due to who it usually came from. He had seen a few things that were not meant for a 50 year old man's eyes.

_I think he needs to see the Chairman about that, or Ruby._ On the other hand, Ruby was probably not the best option, if past run-ins were an indication. With a shiver, they quietly joined the others.

_Well, the resemblance is there. _The blue-haired woman glided her way over to them, and offered them a subdued smile. Another thing Isaac pegged as a shared trait.

"Hello again, Shizuka. Finally nabbed a decent man?" To Isaac's surprise, instead of getting bashful, Shizuka was absolutely beaming. A pleasant warmth took residence in his chest, which was needed because his suit wasn't the greatest for the cold.

"Hey there, Tsu. This is Isaac, he's from another universe," she jumped a little, "And the future… Can't forget that." Isaac received an elbow to the gut. The warmth in his chest sputtered as he glanced to his side.

"Helmet." His manners weren't the sharpest, but an elbow to the side wasn't needed.

"Sorry." Instead of taking it off, he allowed it to stow in the RIG.

"Hello, Mr. Clarke. I'm Tsurara Shirayuki, Mizore's mother. Pleasure to meet you." The feeling that she was staring at him was probably a bit too strong for his liking.

"Pleasure to meet you too, Ma'am. And thanks for allowing us to come along." She smiled, and then started directing everyone to one of the houses farther along the "street".

"Thank Mizore. She was the one who convinced me to do so."

_That is surprising._

"Oh."

"We have a guest house next door to us. I'm sure you and Shizuka will be fine with sharing it, but I'll show you to there after dinner." They fell into step with everyone into a rather large two story home, where Isaac met a rather unlikely problem. Luckily, he was the last one in line.

"Are you okay, Isaac?" Shizuka had already made her way up to the second floor for food. A quick survey of his boots told him all he needed, which was one of the many things that the suits made for the snow didn't have to deal with, frozen servos.

"I'm fine, just need to let the servos warm up. I'll be up there soon." He grabbed a small electronic screwdriver, and began to chip away at the ice. It was unnaturally resilient, and he even prepped his small blowtorch to melt it.

"Mr. Clarke. You won't get anywhere with that." Looking up, he was greeted by cleavage. Just to be safe, he continued to move his eyes up without stopping

"Yes?" It was Tsurara. She was smiling, but he could feel that she was going to be less than friendly with whatever she was planning to do.

"I'd recommend putting that out." The blowtorch had been fully sparked, and lightly hissed. It wasn't necessarily dark outside, but the torch was bright enough to illuminate them in an azure glow. It wasn't doing anything to ease the unwelcome paranoia that he felt. Nonetheless, he shut off the valve

"You hurt her, and I end you." He had faced hordes of Necromorphs, nearly invincible monsters, and creatures the size of planets. Yet, the deadpan delivery and unchanged smile made his innards flip.

"I have the feeling you aren't joking." The smile only widened.

"I'm taking precautions, so that doesn't happen."

She made a motion with her hand, and the ice blocking up his boot broke up. Without another word, the woman gracefully ascended the stairs.

He didn't need to know her to tell that she didn't joke, knowing Mizore told him that. The boots' servos kicked in, and he stepped out of them. Arriving at the top of the stairs, he saw that everyone was eating and joking around with others, and he heard a few snippets about a festival as he entered the room. He picked up on Shizuka whispering something.

"Maybe I should join in." Funnily enough, the small banquet held both adult and minor friendly drinks. Which finally allowed him to get a taste of modern beer. A can of brew and a steaming bowl of Miso soup were set down at the empty spot next to the lovely woman.

"I bet that would help." Whatever she was talking about caught her attention.

"What's up?" She nearly spat out a chunk of fish, but quickly swallowed it.

"Nothing! Just worried about the snowman on the loose." She was holding something back, but he was more than willing to trust her. It was everyone else that he didn't put much stock into, even the kids.

_Doesn't mean I won't look after them._

"Well, alright." Everyone finished their dinner a little bit later after a few exaggerated stories, and were lead to their rooms. On his way down to the front door with the lady of the house and his lady, Isaac heard that the ghoul would be sharing a room with the girls, and took him aside before lights out. The girls would probably have a field day with him, if they didn't kill each other first.

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you to be wary, but watch what the girls are doing. You know how far they can go to get some alone time with you."

"I'll be careful, but I'm sure nothing is going to happen." It almost made him envious of the kid, how he could be so naïve and positive on a daily basis. He gave the kid a pat on the shoulder, and let him head into the room. He could already here the girls fighting over where he would sleep.

_I hope you are right, kid, but that isn't the only thing I'm worried about here._ The ladies were patiently waiting at the bottom of the stairs, and he quickly followed suit.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't offer better accommodations." Shizuka and Isaac shared a glance, and quietly followed. As long as they can stay warm, they could care less.

The sun had gone down fairly quickly, considering that they must've only been eating for an hour or so. Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy, which left the landscape a far more familiar desolate place. A far more nostalgic place for Isaac, in all the wrong ways. Every few steps were followed by a glance, looking for the telltale trail of a submerged corpse following them.

"As long as there is a way to keep warm, I don't mind." Shizuka raised a brow at him, which Isaac failed to see.

"I'm excited. We haven't really shared a room, have we, nyah?" Tsurara looked back at them, looking almost surprised to hear that.

"Nope."

"Really? I was expecting to hear that she roped you into bed the first night, in a literal sense of course."

"HEY! We're taking it slow."

"Ooookay." Naturally, he would've left it at that, but a thought crossed his mind.

"Does that explain the box in the closet that you didn't want me looking into?"

"HEY!" The poor blonde was glaring at both of her accusers with a healthy red glow to her, and quickly slipped into the shack out of embarrassment. The jesters shared a healthy chuckle.

"Now, you two have a restful night. There is wood for the fireplace, and sleeping bags in the closet."

"Thank you, and you have a good night too." She sauntered off to the house, and left him with a sarcastic remark about how she doubted that she would. The little paranoiac itch in his head had him feeling the same, but he would risk sleep over the cold for tonight. Plus, he'll probably have to apologize to Shizuka for the joke.

**-A short while later-**

Isaac and Shizuka were sleeping rather peacefully, separately that is. To them, this probably wasn't the best place to do any funny business, seeing as everyone else was just next door. They would have remained that way, had the sudden cacophony of slamming doors not rumbled the very shack they were in.

"What the hell?" Drowsy and fumbling, Isaac got up, and quickly nabbed his RIG for a Stim boost. Something he had relied on for a time, which almost became an addiction after the events on Titan.

"What was that nyoise?" Shizuka didn't even flinch, no less lift her head to ask her question.

"Don't know, but I'm going to find out." His suit had been thrown into a corner, along with the armor plates and boots. Those were thrown on, and Isaac dragged his bag out to grab another tool that he brought. A full sized flamethrower. He wouldn't trust any bit of flesh or blood that come from him, it would probably turn.

"Just come back to bed. It's already getting cold." Isaac glanced back at her as she flipped over to look at him. Tempting as it was to jump back and snuggle up, paranoia won out. As it always did.

"If anyone gets hurt, because I decided to ignore this. I won't be sleeping well for a while."

"You already don't sleep well." He couldn't argue with that, but there was a problem at hand, and that meant he could do something. Plus, what else did he have to do? Sleep could wait till he was ready.

"I know, but the more I help people, the better I can put up with my own shit." Shizuka just nodded, and popped up out of the sleeping bag. She stumbled around a bit in her pajamas, apparently reeling from getting up too fast. She slipped into a few layers of thermals and waterproof clothing, and both of them gathered at the doorway.

"Uh, Isaac, do you remember what Tsurara said? About the abominable snowman?"

"Yeeeup. That's why I have my cutter."

"You always have that thing." Another point he couldn't or wouldn't argue about.

"Are you ready to go? Because the quicker we do this, the quicker we can get back to bed." With a hesitant nod, they both stormed into the awaiting blizzard. If it could have gotten any colder, they swore their limbs would snap off like dry twigs.

Instead of heading to the house to see what had happened, they started following what looked like a stampede of boot prints heading away from the house. No abnormally large foot prints were present though, so they came up with the same idea.

"I THINK ONE OF THE GIRLS TOOK TSUKUNE FOR A MIDNIGHT RENDEVOU, AND THEN THE OTHERS STORMED AFTER THEM!"

"WHO DO YOU THINK DID IT THOUGH, NYAH?" Isaac shifted the flamethrower on his back, and looked around. It didn't really help at all, but he still liked to do so. He did have an idea of who absconded with the ghoul, and it had to be the only one comfortable with the cold. The one who had looked worried back at the bus stop.

"I'M PRETTY SURE IT WAS MIZORE, SHE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO WOULD GO OUT IN A BLIZZARD! PLUS, WE SHOULD PICK UP OUR PACE, THE SNOW IS COMING IN HARDER, AND THE TRACKS WON'T LAST LONG IN THIS WEATHER!" In the end, it didn't take them long to find their charges. What clued them in was the occasional odd whump, which suddenly picked up in tempo. They began sprinting over a ridge, and Isaac passed the flamethrower to Shizuka, knowing full well that she wasn't particularly good with firearms.

"WHATEVER IS OVER THERE, JUST AIM THE NOZZLE AT IT, AND PULL THE TRIGGER. THE FLAME SHOULD DO THE REST OF THE WORK!" She nodded, and they passed over the crest. All the girls were armed with what looked like small cannons, which shot condensed snow. If it wasn't such a drastic situation, he would have laughed at the irony of those firearms. Not that he would laugh, now that he saw what they were fighting against.

Their assailant appeared to be an extremely large humanoid, complete with white fur and red eyes. Pretty much the exact image of an abominable snowman that Isaac had. It wasn't faring too well, seeing as the girls were hitting it at every angle. He almost felt sorry for it, but that didn't last for the span of a few heartbeats. Strangely, the creature began to break down into snow. Probably an attempt to become a part of the blizzard. Whether it was a means of escape, or another way to attack, Isaac didn't want to find out. It began to give him the impression of the Cheshire cat as the body became translucent, shining red eyes and toothy grin remaining solid. It was definitely planning something, which would put far more fear in him than a rabid beast.

"SHIZUKA, BURN IT!" He had barely finished the sentence when a dense cone of blue flames burst from behind him. Luckily, the creature was only half way dissolved, and bellowed in pain as it was suddenly set upon by an inferno. For whatever reason, the flames forced it to reassemble itself. A damning quality.

It flailed about fruitlessly, managing to waft the rancid smell of burning fur towards everyone. Luckily, he used a particularly viscous fuel that prevented the monster from shaking it off. He could only imagine how painful it was, a creature that has only known the cold, now burning at temperatures around 2000 degrees Celsius.

Realizing the futility of its flailing, it began clambering for a reprieve from the pain. The last thing Isaac saw from the creature was flailing claws, disappearing into the frost. The blizzard began to die down as well, leaving the area fairly tranquil. Isaac glanced around, looking for any other unexpected problems. The area surrounding them seemed to be a small flatland, covered in a field of flowers. It was a strangely romantic place, which didn't sit well with him. It didn't matter at the moment, there was still the problem of finishing off the creature. A necessity, seeing as how this morning turned out.

Shizuka passed the flamethrower before he could even ask for it. She was really starting to understand how he worked, or she just didn't want to hold the thing. Honestly, he hoped for the latter.

_Let's make this quick._ With reckless abandon, he ran passed fallen and alight trees in pursuit of the fleeing bonfire. The only thing he really did notice is that the farther he went, the less agitated everything became. Less trees were uprooted and scorched, which eventually led Isaac to going by tracks. This also proved to become a pointless endeavor.

The prints were shrinking, not just losing the ash that made it easy to track. They were also getting shallower, eventually just disappearing entirely on top of a hill. That would have been the end of it, if he hadn't searched around a bit more. The tracks had stopped in the middle of a thicket of evergreens, but one last clue remained. A scrap of material, singed at the edges, was snagged onto a low hanging branch. He'd look at it better later, but now, he needed to head back to everyone.

The only one he found back at the field was Shizuka, looking around at the field nervously.

"Where is everyone else?"

"They went back to the house." He nodded, but he had a few choice words for them when he saw them.

"Should we head back?" Another nod, and they started to head back. It was painfully quiet during the walk, but they arrived fairly quickly. The lady of the house awaited them.

"Have fun?" Isaac glanced at her, but didn't answer. Something felt off with this whole ordeal, and Isaac wasn't willing to lie down until he knew what it was.

"Tsurara, I need to have a talk with you and your daughter, right now." Unsurprisingly, the younger girl popped out of the entry door to join her mother. Shizuka stayed by his side, just as interested by Isaac's tone with her friend.

"What the hell is going on here? Somethings haven't made any sense. Mizore's behavior, the snowman, and me and Shizuka being here. Your daughter and Tsukune were almost killed by that snowman, and for what? So she could take him to a field of flowers." Not surprisingly, both of them were straight-faced. He really wished that they would react like normal people.

"The Yuki-onna are dying out, Mr. Clarke. We have a very short window of opportunity to procreate. So, by the age of 17, all young women are forced to find a mate or be matched by the village priestess. The flowers are meant to hasten the process of copulating." That made a few things clear, but there was something else he needed to know.

"So, why invite everyone? Mizore knows the other girls won't approve of this, and there really is no reason to invite me or Shizuka."

"Because we needed people to help protect all the girls in the festival. The majority of them aren't fighters, and would be easy targets for the creature. Mizore said that you are very protective of everyone, and could kill if needed." He couldn't argue about that, but it didn't make it any easier.

"Fine." He pinched the bridge of his nose, and huffed.

_Survival of the species, huh? Can't be mad about that, but she risked getting Tsukune and herself killed. That is what I can get mad about._

"Mizore. Next time you try something like that, find a safe place to do that." A nod was the reply he got.

"You should probably tell the others about your predicament, it may make them a bit easier to handle."

"So, if she doesn't get Tsukune, the priestess will find a suitor for her?" The older Yuki-onna nodded, which didn't help Isaac any. The concept of forced unions was pretty obscure by the time he was born, so it all seemed really absurd that they did something like this.

"And you are just going to stand there, if she is married off to someone she doesn't know? Someone she doesn't love?" That frigid mask of indifference cracked a little, a twitch of the eye made it clear that Tsurara didn't want that to happen.

"If I have to." He was done with the interrogation, and slipped into the guest house. Less than a few minutes ago, he was pissed at Mizore and Tsukune, but it was this tradition that spurred Mizore into action. The girls around the ghoul were all tragic in some way. A vampire who lost her mother, a succubus that would die without him, a yuki-onna that would be forced onto another. In the end, the kid had to choose one. Not a situation that Isaac envied.

_Hell, Shizuka is… Well, Shizuka is plenty. _He glanced over to the other side of the room, just to take in the sight of the woman. She looked absorbed in thought as she slipped into her pajamas, which wasn't much. It did make his heart beat a bit faster though, and that was something that he could be glad about. She quickly slipped into her sleeping bag, and faced him.

Armor components were dropped into a corner, and the base layer with the RIG attached were thrown on top.

"So." Since Shizuka was in her sleeping bag, Isaac decided to lay down even though he was still running on the stims. He wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon.

"You look wide awake, nyah."

"Yeah, the stim I took works for a few hours. I might take a look around to see if I can track… wait." He quickly sat up, and snatched his base layer. He had forgotten about the material he found. The scorched patch had been stuffed into an ammo compartment.

"I found this after the snowman disappeared. Do you know what it could be to?" As far as he himself could tell, it was blue and somewhat thin. Which is why he was asking Shizuka. It didn't take her long, though.

"It's silk, probably from a kimono, nyah." It didn't help much, but he knew what is was from now. He threw the patch back onto his suit, and laid down. Scooting closer to Shizuka, he gave her a quick kiss.

"Thank you." She replied with a content smile, and kissed him right back.

_Shizuka is all I need…_

**-Later that day-**

Isaac had drifted to sleep much sooner than he had expected, something he attributed to Shizuka just being in the same room. Even the nightmares were abated.

When he did wake, he could already tell that Shizuka had moved much closer. Or he had scooted over in his sleep, he didn't care which. He cracked his eyes open to see a mess of dirty blond hair, and breathed in the overwhelming scent of sweat and wildflowers.

Shizuka had wiggled her way into his sleeping bag, and passed out on his chest.

"No, Isaac." Isaac instantly froze. He wasn't doing anything, what was she saying no to? He lightly moved her hair out the way, and saw that she was still very much asleep. As much as he wanted to hear what she had to say, the door slammed open. Shizuka popped up, and both adults snapped their eyes to the door, wide eyed at the intrusion. All of the students were peering, all with different shades of red covering their faces. Both Isaac and Shizuka shared a resigned huff.

"We can come back later!"

"There's no need. We a-." He cut himself short, and whispered into his companion's ear.

"You are dressed, right?"

"My shirt was too warm, but I am wearing shorts."

"Well, we are dressed." Isaac unzipped the bag, and quickly moved in front of the kids to bide her some time to nab her shirt.

"What do you guys need?" They all shifted uncomfortably, but Mizore spoke in their stead.

"We wanted to thank you for yesterday, and to tell you breakfast is ready." With that, Mizore and the others quickly left. Isaac quickly shut the door, and turned towards Shizuka. Due to how well he slept, he felt a bit more revitalized than normal. He'd even say he felt playful.

"Good morning, Kitty-cat."

"Morning…uhhh." She paused, looking at the ceiling like it would give her a retort.

"I… Don't have anything." They slipped into some light clothing, and quickly joined everyone else for breakfast. Nobody brought up the incident of earlier, much to Isaac and Shizuka's relief. Everyone finished up, and left to get prepared for the day.

As much as he thought to dress better (Which he admitted was just to look good for his favorite person), he kept with his suit. If he was to be security, he needed to dress the part. Shizuka on the other hand, had dressed herself in a kimono. She was dressed well enough for the both of them.

Her hair had been done up in a bun with a crystal ornament holding the bun in place. She was wearing a subdued orange kimono with silver cherry blossom trees stitched in. It was a really strong dichotomy seeing both of them. The stern-looking human in armor trudging next to the graceful-looking Nekomusume in a kimono. Which was just a surface observation.

Isaac was smiling at Shizuka, who was having a hard time with the snow, which made her look not as graceful. Another small pleasant moment.

"Hey, Ms. Nekonome! Mr. Clarke!" All of their students were waiting a bit further down the path that they were on, with one notable exception. Both adults shared a worried glance, but continued on nonetheless.

"How are all of you today, nyah?" All of them were dressed for the occasion, leaving Isaac the odd man out. His mind was elsewhere though.

"Where is Mizore?"

"The Priestess called her up to the castle earlier." That was when Isaac's stomach dropped.

_This is bad. She's likely getting introduced to her suitor…_ With a thought, Isaac's helmet unfolded, and he primed his cutter. Everyone gasped a little with the sudden change in the Isaac's mood, but Shizuka understood why.

"All of you, go to Tsurara. Get her guns, and meet us at the castle. Mizore is in trouble." Without getting their response, Isaac started trudging towards the castle with Shizuka in step. Tradition or not, this wasn't the way that Mizore was going to get treated.

The trek would take a little, so as he was walking, he pulled a few stasis packs from a compartment. A back up plan that he tied to the strap holding the flamethrower in place. A small alteration to the converter on the pack would prevent it from venting its internal heat regulator, causing it to burst. A stasis grenade by any measure.

He also felt something really off behind him, but he already knew who it was. Shizuka was nearly snarling at the moment, and her hair was on end. Her claws were elongated, and her stature was bordering on bestial. Shizuka could get terrifying really easy. Which put the odds in their favor.

They had already come up to the massive doors of the castle, where there stood two guards. They were already nervous though, seeing a furious Nekomusume and an armed and armored man marching up to them.

Isaac was about to tell them to leave, when a faint gust of air caught his attention. He snapped his head to the left, but Shizuka wasn't there. Looking back revealed both of the guards unconscious on the ground, and Shizuka pushing the door open.

_Christ, she is fast. _He stepped over the guys, but decided to wait for everyone else.

"Shizuka, we should wait for the others! I can see them trudging up the stairs!" She had already disappeared into the dark hall.

"ALL OF YOU, HURRY UP!" Following the furious woman, he switched to his flamethrower. Everything he saw inside of the foyer was dark, except for a bright set of eyes high up on a wall. It was safe to assume that Shizuka had cleared out the room, which brought up a point that worried him.

"Shizuka? Everything okay up there?" Each guard he walked over had a pretty good sized welt on the back of their head. Just unconscious, which was a relief. He glanced at Shizuka every other guard, and started seeing a gradual decrease in her fury. By the time the students arrived, she had jumped off the wall.

"Are they dead?"

"No, but they'll be up in a little bit. Let's hurry up and get Mizore." All of them were armed, which would probably make things easier on them. Isaac made the mental note to thank Tsurara. As a small contingent, they stormed up to what must've been an entrance hall. What awaited was a darkly dressed man. His appearance was nonchalant with slicked back hair, along with a severe lack of tension. It wasn't right.

_Shit, this was planned._

"You are here to get Mizore, aren't you?" Everyone remained quiet, but Isaac could feel the underlying rage in the people around him.

"My apologies, but you are all too late. Her heart and body have already been stolen by her new husband. It's very likely that you will never see her again." In that moment, Isaac saw most of the students lose some of that fire in them. Some dropped their guns, and others just stared at the man. He was just glad that he wasn't going to believe a damn thing this man says. He was used to far worse mind games.

"I think you all deserve to hear why this happened, don't you think?" The man smirked, and pulled out a small cigarette tin from his coat.

"The Priestess offered up their strongest girl to an organization, in return for the revival of her lands. A pittance to pay for the continued existence of the Yuki-Onna, in my opinion." Out of the corner of his eye, Isaac saw Kurumu twitch. Her rage was getting to her, but a familiar voice rang out through the hall. It was different though, because of the overwhelming sadness oozing out of it.

"Just leave, everyone." Mizore stood at the top of the stairs, frozen streams of tears sliding down her face.

"I…" Her voice hitches, and she directs her eyes towards the darkly dressed man. That's when it clicked for Isaac.

"I've been dirtied… I'm not good enough to love Tsukune now." Isaac snatched Tsukune off the ground, and pushed him towards the stairs.

"Get your ass in gear, and get her." Then the sound of fracturing glass caught their attention, and Mizore began to collapse. Spurred into action by the sudden sound, Tsukune bum rushed up the stairs, only to catch a load of fractured ice.

What came nextt started out as a light chuckle, something you'd do after hearing an old joke, but it quickly became the cackle of a madman. The stranger was shaking violently with laughter as everyone glared at him.

"DIRTIED?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" The man nearly buckled over, and Isaac felt bile building up in his throat. He's met some shitty people, but this guy was already one of the worst.

"SHE IS WORTHLESS, JUST A LITTLE GIRL. YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A LITTLE GIRL?" He had seen it coming already, but nobody else in the room had guessed it. This guy had no concept of subtlety. Nonetheless, Tsukune stood up, radiating absolute hate towards the man.

"What did you do?" The kid's hair started losing its color, becoming silver in tone. The man had stopped his hysteria, apparently interested in the boy's transformation.

"I just toyed with her a little. She is just a kid after all. Plus, it was a major turn off when she began to cry and freak out over a kiss. And to have the gall to say she was dirtied? What a self-righteous bitch." Apparently, the man had a death wish. Provoking the kid like that wasn't to be taken lightly.

_Unless…_ With a small flourish, the man continued.

"But don't you worry, kids. I'll take care good care of her. So when she has matured, she'll be properly broken in." Isaac acted without thinking, running up and slugging the man right in the face. Yet, there was no give, no satisfying crunch.

"I honestly expected worse." Isaac stood there, dumbfounded. The guy didn't even look at him, and shrugged off the hit like it was nothing. Hoisted up like a toy, he was then flung into a nearby wall, and lost consciousness on impact.

-Shizuka-

"ISAAC!" Shizuka sprinted over to the limp man, her heart stuck in her throat. His helmet was cracked and bent, and thin rivers of blood poured from within. Even the blue lights from his helmet were darkening due to the blood.

_Oh god! _She gingerly removed his helmet, but stopped when even more blood erupted from the broken seal. If he wasn't dead already, then it wouldn't be too long before he did pass.

"Can you hear me?" Isaac didn't even twitch, but something else did. The blood that had begun to pool beneath him started to recede, back into him. Tsukune and Moka were well aware what was coming next, and the vampire quickly dragged Shizuka away from the regenerating monstrosity.

Isaac's body arched violently, the already broken bones breaking again just to reform in a grotesque new form. Nobody could really tell what was happening under the suit, but everyone knew this wasn't something to underestimate. Even the aggressor took notice.

"Isaac." With a bizarre grace, the body righted itself. A shaky hand pushed the unlocked helmet off, revealing what damage that the impact had done. Which appeared to be not much, at all. His face was relatively normal, albeit pale. The biggest difference was in the eyes. A luminescent orange surrounded by burst capillaries.

"Isaac?" It glanced her direction, and Shizuka remembered the night that Isaac had been at the lake. The eyes were the same, but not the emotion they conveyed. All she saw was rage, and something that chilled her to the bone. Hunger.

"Oh. What's this?" The monster that took over Isaac slipped its eyes to the other man, and took a few tentative steps towards him. A disembodied rattling came from Isaac, followed by Isaac's arms shaking. Large blades of bone erupted from the suit's hands, bursting the stasis emitter. In lieu of slowing him down, he began to twitch excitedly, as if he had been put in fast forward. The monster stumbled forward momentarily, and glanced back up at its prey. The rattle returned, but it slowed down and got louder, turning into an awful cackle. It reared its head, and everyone looked in horror as Isaac's cheeks split to reveal rows and rows of needle-like teeth. It almost looked like a garish smile.

"_**Soooooo hungryyyyyy."**_

**Sorta cut this chapter short. Sorry.**

**Also, Isaac is the only source of the Necromorph scourge. Meaning he will be at the highest possible strength of a Necromorph if he becomes one. As we know, he won't do so unless things are so far gone that it is his only chance to save everyone, or he loses the Holy Lock.**

** To be honest with you guys, I dropped Isaac in at a later time than the previous story. It would give me less time for Isaac and Shizuka to vacation, but I added a lot more content this time around. I'm thinking that Isaac and Shizuka will be taking a break when the group travels to somewhere in particular.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey people, I return with another chapter. Also, I'm sorry for the even longer hiatus in between chapters, a lot has been happening these last few months, got a physically demanding job that puts me into shut down mode for weeks on end. My job will slow down dramatically in January, so I'll be able to focus more on writing then. So, to the responses:**

**Thebutterking: Thank you, and about Isaac… Since he is the only thing around with the Necromorph infection, along with tidbits of the Necromorph conscious, I think it is safe to say that he is a bit more than just a regenerator. With how I'm thinking, he can be any type of Necromorph he needs to be, or more specifically, what it needs to be.**

**Itharax: YOUR ENTHUSIASM IS SCARING ME! But it is greatly appreciated. **

**Abe: SAY THAT TO MY FACE**

**Aghast Soldier Guy: Thank you kindly, Soldier. **

**Some guy: Well, he can be all of them… But he busted the emitter for his Stasis module, so he has aspects of a Twitcher now…**

**Oberon: I'm not completely sure what I just read… And I haven't dabbled in any Tokyo Ghoul, yet…**

**Neovilus: Well, now you get your bloody blood-fest… of blood… Thank you though...**

"ISAAC!" Shizuka called out to him, but what had taken his place paid her no mind. Struggling against Moka's hold, she tried reaching out for him, but was nowhere near close enough. She could only watch as the monster stalked toward the other odd man out. The cackle from earlier returned, and the monster began to shake violently.

Before anybody realized it, the monster popped up in front of the man in black. It was impossibly fast, and everyone backed up even farther. The man in black even stepped back, but didn't have the chance to get any farther. A single blade passed through man's head, before the other hand swung at the neck, decapitating him. The head was flung into a nearby wall, and then the scythe-bladed hands began to impale the body over and over again. Blood erupted from holes that nobody could tell had even been made, and chunks of flesh and viscera plopped onto the ground in the ever-growing puddle of blood.

As suddenly as it had begun, it stopped, leaving everyone dumbfounded. The only sounds remaining were the occasional plop of splattered gore, and the rattle of the monster.

Eventually though, the creature hunched over, stabbing a rather large chunk of what used to be the mysterious man. Everyone watched as it slowly brought the chunk closer and closer to its maw, watching the blood ooze from severed veins and arteries. Shizuka felt bile rise in her throat, but knew she had to stop him from doing that.

"ISAAC!" The creature flinched, stopping it from getting the piece closer. It didn't look towards them, but frantically began to scrape off the flesh. She inwardly sighed out of relief. It seemed that there was still a bit of Isaac conscious.

"Mizore." Shizuka spoke up, glancing at Tsukune. He looked at her, and nodded distractedly. Quietly, he stole away upstairs, leaving everyone else to watch Isaac's body. Shizuka knew well enough that if anyone could get through to him at this point, it would have to be her. Plus, Mizore would probably need all of her friends right now.

"G-go." Moka and Kurumu looked at her, bewildered. Shizuka wriggled out of Moka's arms, and stepped towards Isaac.

"You can-." Shizuka glared at them, silencing them both. She wasn't sure that she could do this, but it was Isaac. Even if worse came to worse, the thought of what could happen made her stomach drop.

Without another word, the girls left, leaving Shizuka and Isaac alone. With small and tentative steps, she inched closer to him. It didn't move, keeping its hunched back towards her. She noticed that the creature's shaking slowed down, but became extremely violent instead. Then came the cracking and popping, causing her to hop back. She watched intently, jumping when something clattered to the floor. It was the emitter to Isaac's stasis module.

"Isaac?" Her voice wavered a bit, but she was still worried about getting close. Ever so slowly, Shizuka noticed that Isaac was turning around. He didn't look as horrifying, the torn cheeks were healed over. Suddenly, he lurched forward, and started upchucking. The needle-like teeth that had taken root a few minutes prior, were launched out of him along with a small pile of viscera. Shizuka watched as Isaac began to slowly pick himself up, and he eventually stumbled to a somewhat solid footing.

"Isaac?" She stepped forward, and reached out to him. In response, Isaac took tentative steps towards her, but his feet failed him. He collapsed, but Shizuka was there fast enough to prevent him from slamming his head on the ground. As quickly as she could, she began dragging him outside, but was promptly stopped by Isaac.

"The students?" Shizuka continued on, too worried about him dying on her.

"They're fine. We just need to get you out of here, okay?" He weakly nodded. It didn't take them long to get to the door, where a small group of people had assembled. The bus driver, Tsurara, Ruby, and Moka's sister, . The driver slipped over, and took the near-unconscious man.

"I'll get him patched up, don't worry." As the driver started to hoist Isaac away, Shizuka snatched up the flamethrower off of Isaac's back. There was still a bit of blood and viscera that was probably from Isaac, and he always emphasized why there shouldn't be any lingering pieces of him anywhere. She sprinted upstairs, the tool already burning blue.

The hall where everything took place was as still as a graveyard, the only sounds were the repetitive clack of her shoes. The whole hall was bit of a mess, a few walls and pillars even had a fresh coating of crimson ichor. Naturally, she didn't waste time in getting the mess burned away. Every little splotch was swallowed by the blue inferno, and Shizuka took extra care to let the chunks of the other man cook for much longer. She only let up when each chunk crumbled under foot into a fine black powder, satisfied that he wouldn't be getting back up.

"Ms. Nekonome?" She turned to the stairway, seeing all the students coming down the stairs. They all looked no worse for wear, even the slightly red-eyed Mizore.

"Where's Isaac?" She let the flamethrower drop a bit, feeling oddly drained. It was probably the overwhelming stench of burnt flesh, and the scare of what happened to Isaac. Just thinking about Isaac made her feel even more tired.

"Downstairs with the driver, Ruby, and Kokoa…" She just wanted to go home, and drop on her bed like a damn rock. It occurred to her that she'd never been this stressed out in years, and only glanced at the others as she hopped onto the bus that awaited downstairs.

Isaac was lying on a cot in the middle aisle, looking relatively peaceful as he watched her. His natural pallor had returned, and his eyes were back to their normal color as well. He offered a small smile as she sat down next to him, and began lightly running her hand through his hair.

"You okay?" He nodded slightly.

"Hey, I'm gonna look at the Lock, okay? Tsukune says the beads break on his whenever he turns." Another nod, and he lifted his forearm. She quickly grabbed his arm, worried that he may be a bit too tired to keep his arm up for a while. The band wasn't broken, and the rosary on it still looked pristine. She did eventually spot one in particular that was different. It looked like something was growing on it, almost fleshy looking now.

She gently placed his arm back down, and went back to running her hand through his hair. It didn't take long for Isaac to drift off to sleep, and Shizuka lied down on an adjacent seat. She drifted off to sleep shortly after, her head resting on Isaac's stomach.

Without disturbing the sleeping adults, everyone filed back onto the bus, tired and eager to head home. The bus rumbled into life, and they were back at the school in less than an hour. The students quietly filed out, leaving the bus driver to wake the others.

"Hey you two." He gently nudged both of them, rousing Isaac. Shizuka kept on sleeping, even when Isaac moved her to a sitting position. He noticed that he wasn't particularly sore or

"Shizuka." Isaac shook her, but she only mumbled. He wasn't too

_C'mon. You lazy cat._ He prodded her neck with no reaction. He'd have to resort to hitting her sensitive areas, namely her ears. She must've stopped trying to hide them at some point, and just let things be. Ultimately, he decided not to wake her.

Gently, he slipped his arms beneath her, and lifted. The woman didn't stir, and only nuzzled up against him. The walk back to their rooms was a silent one, the only noise was an occasional purr from the sleeping woman. Isaac realized that he didn't know where she kept her keys, so he quickly unlocked his room, and laid her down on his bed. She snuggled up on the bed, messing up his covers, but he wasn't bothered at all. He was going to plop down right next to her, when a gentle sets of knocks rang out.

_Come on… _Begrudgingly, he walked back to the door. Not even bothering with the security system, he opened the door to see Tsukune. He looked back at the sleeping woman, and motioned for them to take the conversation out of the room.

"Are you okay, Isaac?" He shrugged, and leaned against the wall.

"As far as I can tell, I am. I think Shizuka thinks so as well." The kid nodded, and shifted his weight to one of his feet. A quiet moment passed between them, before someone said anything.

"How about your Lock?" Isaac glanced, instantly spotting the infected one. He held it up for Tsukune to see.

"I think Shizuka said that your beads crack when you turn." Another nod, and the kid showed his own lock. True to what he heard, a few of the beads bore a visible crack, a stress fracture from what Isaac could guess. It bothered him that his own Lock was acting differently than the kids, but they were dealing with different problems.

"How is Mizore doing?" Tsukune's eyes darkened momentarily.

"She almost threw herself out of the window when we got there, but Kurumu was able to catch her in time." Isaac nodded, morosely recalling the few times that he'd almost done something like that.

"Make sure you are there for her, okay? I hope you'll never have to know how important it is to have someone supporting you after doing something like that." The kid raised a brow, but let it pass.

"I will." Isaac nodded, and patted the kid on the shoulder.

"Your friends will probably want to see you, best not let them wait." They both said small farewells, and Isaac casually walked into the room. Shizuka was still sleeping, her head buried in his pillow. He removed his armor and RIG, and hopped into the shower.

It was scalding hot, but he felt it was necessary. He had been able to hold back the revulsion and nausea that came flooding back every time he remembered. How blades burst from his hands, how his cheeks tore, and the terror in everyone's eyes. He knew it was pointless to worry about it, but there was that light at the end of the tunnel. A cure and the freedom that came with it.

As soon as he finished his shower, he dried off and slipped some pajamas on. Shizuka didn't stir through all of that, her face still buried in his pillow. He gently slipped into bed, and drew himself into the covers. It didn't take long for Shizuka to wrangle him into an embrace, all the while unconscious.

He closed his eyes, and drifted off into a dreamless slumber.

**A few hours later**

Isaac was the first awake, already noticing that the sun wasn't out just yet. He lied there quietly, slowly rubbing the sleeping woman's back. It was necessary for him to move a bit at one point, because her kimono had begun to open up. Quickly, he tied it up with a crude knot, keeping her clothes from slipping off her.

_ Is it really safe for me to be with her? I can't be anything but a ticking time bomb right now…_ He stared at the ceiling, absently watching the fan spin. It was only a few minutes in to his staring that Shizuka began to stir.

"Hello, sleepy head." She looked up, a bit of drool hanging out of the side of her mouth. She offered a dazed smile, before snuggling back up to him.

"C'mon, you've been sleeping for almost 13 hours now." Her response was just further burying her face into his chest.

_Well, it is Sunday, at least. _He went silent for a little while, waiting for Shizuka to get up on her own.

"Isaac?" He hummed, and waited for Shizuka to look up at him. She only raised her head a little, slightly muffling her next question.

"Are you really okay?" He nodded, and squeezed her a little bit tighter. She responded in kind, even adding a small giggle as his ever growing beard tickled her neck.

"I feel fine now." She looked at him again, and kissed him. As much as he tried to be paranoid, he just couldn't bring himself to be like that with her in his arms. Her presence alone was enough to make him feel better.

Shizuka slowly slipped out of the bed, and stretched. Isaac was gonna follow suit, when she leaned over, and kept him from sitting up properly.

"I'll get us both something to eat, okay?" He sighed, and allowed her to win this round. There wasn't much of a point to arguing. Besides, he wasn't feeling the greatest at this moment.

"I need to change, nyah. Cause this is nyot going to fly." Isaac chuckled, and Shizuka darted out of the room. It occurred to him that he thought her penchant to do that was annoying early on, it almost seemed absurd to think that now. That thought aside, he silently lied there for a few minutes, nary a thought crossing his mind.

Shizuka showed up eventually, two containers of eggs, bacon, and rice tucked under her arm. He took note of her attire as well, a loose t-shirt and pajama bottoms. Isaac sat up, and both of them began to dig in to their breakfast in bed. They were fairly surprised with their food, seeing as it tasted better for some reason. Naturally, they finished up the plates, and instantly knew that more would be necessary.

"I'm still hungry." Isaac nodded, absently picking at a piece of bacon stuck in his teeth. He couldn't argue with that at all. They hopped up, and locked up the room. It crossed Isaac's mind that he didn't grab his cutter, and surprisingly, he wasn't nervous without it. Another thing he attributed to Shizuka.

As they wandered the halls, they could hear people conversing in the cafeteria. Isaac glanced in, and went in with Shizuka still latched to his hand. All of the clubbies were eating together, dressed in their pajamas. He found it comforting to see them all happily chatting away like nothing happened.

"Morning everyone." Contrary to what Isaac thought would happen, they all greeted him cheerily. Tsukune's problems probably had them used to something like that. Both adults walked over to where all the breakfast options were. It still was bizarre to see something like raw meat just lying next to a container of oranges, but he already knew what he wanted to eat. He plucked up a cinnamon bun, as well as a large bottle of cranberry juice. Shizuka, on the other hand, nabbed two raw fish fillets with a bottle of chocolate milk. They joined the kids, digging into their food whilst listening to what the other people were saying.

It was just average small talk, strangely enough. Nothing regarding yesterday, or anything like that. It almost bothered him that they weren't doing that, but he let it go. It was probably for the best anyways.

"Isaac?" Shizuka poked at his side, pulling him from his thoughts. She was holding out a slice of fish, and Isaac graciously bit off the piece. He couldn't help but offer up a small smile, which she returned as well. Turning back to his own plate, he felt people staring at him. All of the kids were watching them, some looking envious. He already knew something was going to happen.

"Can we help you?" Most of the kids looked away, the girls slipping their eyes to the resident ghoul. Isaac could only imagine that the girls would soon be stuffing his face just to mimic him and Shizuka. True to his thought, Mizore quickly had a spoonful of sorbet at Tsukune's mouth. Both Isaac and Shizuka glanced at each other, knowing this was going to escalate as soon as Kurumu got involved. Both of them scooted back a few chairs, and watched as Kurumu smothered the poor kid after pouring syrup on her chest.

"I think we should go." Isaac nodded, and they quickly left. The last thing they heard from the room was Tsukune yelling for help.

"Tsukune has it rough, nyah." Isaac chuckled. Something like having your own harem was at the forefront of every teenage boy's mind, but the reality of it all was much different. Not that he knew from experience, but just watching the group told him all he needed.

"Yeah, I wouldn't like to be in his position." Shizuka sent him a glance.

"Really? Having a harem willing to do your every whim?" He shook his head, pulling the cheery woman closer as he did so.

"One is plenty for me." The rest of the walk back to their rooms was peacefully quiet, the only odd thing to happen was when they got to their rooms. Taped onto each of their doors was a letter, no doubt from the Headmaster.

_It has come to my attention that you had an incident yesterday, and I would like to ease your mind on this matter. In times of high duress or peril, your body may reject the Lock's ability, in attempt to save your life. It is nothing to worry about, as long as you don't fight or get seriously injured. With this in mind, I am having both you and Ms. Nekonome placed on paid vacation. Your classes will be taken over by qualified replacement staff, until your vacation is over. Have fun… _Shizuka squealed as she read hers, and Isaac only grinned. A vacation was something he hadn't had since before the Ishimura. Plus, the timing felt a bit perfect, another little great thing on the pile for the day.

_Either it is perfect timing, or this seems a bit rushed._

"It doesn't say where we are going to go…" He glanced at Shizuka, who was looking starry-eyed at the paper.

"We can go to my villa!" She began jumping for joy, and began shaking Isaac's arm like a child. The enthusiasm she was emanating was just overpowering, but Isaac wasn't one to jump for joy. Nonetheless, he laughed as she slowly settled down.

"We gotta go pack, and I gotta get all the cleaning stuff ready." She began to murmur on, absently walking into her room.

_Well. I should probably get started as well. _Packing would be easy enough, if he wore his RIG suit. Not that he was a slacker in the strength department, it was just that he didn't feel up for lugging things around. He popped into his room, dredging out a large roller suitcase that Ruby had dropped off earlier in the month.

It only took them a bit over a half an hour to be ready, and were rolling their suitcases down the hallway. They needed to speak to the others first, just so they knew. Strangely enough, they were all still in the cafeteria.

"You guys alright?" Everyone just glanced up, obviously tired from whatever little brawl that followed the adults departure.

"We are heading out on a vacation by the Headmaster's order. We have no idea how long we'll be gone, but apparently you'll have decent staff taking over. So… yeah." Isaac shifted from foot to foot, watching the kids starting to shift into gear. The majority of them stood up, at least.

"Where are you two love birds headed?" Kurumu lazily walked over, her shirt sticking to her from the pile of syrup she must've used on Tsukune. The others eventually followed, a variety of stains on their clothes. Mizore had a large red stain on her shirt, a fairly obvious sign of a ketchup assault. Moka had chunks of watermelon sticking to her hair, and Yukari had quite a few blobs of odd purple goop on her hat. Yet, Tsukune looked like a food bomb had been dropped on him.

"We are, uh… Geez, kid." There was ridiculously large chunks of different foods sticking to him, no doubt that they were only staying there from the syrupy motorboat that Kurumu had forced on him. He only shrugged as he picked a chunk of watermelon from the side of his neck, and ate it.

"You all need to wash up. We'll see you guys in a few weeks, I think." A few hums followed, and all the kids shuffled out of the cafeteria. It was a fairly odd goodbye, to say the least. Snagging a few drinks, both of them fled downstairs, and started the walk to the bus stop.

As expected, the bus was already there, idling as the driver smoked his cigarette outside.

"Having a busy weekend, huh?" The driver ground out his cigarette, and hopped back into the driver seat.

"Come on, you two. I'm supposed to have today off, and happy hour starts in a few minutes." The trip to the human world was a short one, and rather uneventful. Now, the rest of the drive to Shizuka's house wasn't so uneventful. Shizuka was pointing out a bunch of landmarks and restaurants, particularly the ones she loved to go to. Isaac couldn't help but smile as she excitedly pointed out all of these things. He wrapped his arms around her, and set his chin on her shoulder.

Eventually, the bus pulled up to a small gated home. The place was mostly hidden though, a small row of pines blocking the view. He could see that the exterior was a dull orange, though.

"You two have fun. I hear a pitcher of Jack calling me." The driver practically stomped onto the pedal, leaving a heavy cloud of smoke behind him. Both of them waved the smoke away, idly standing in the road.

"So, here we are, nyah!" She strode over to the gate, all the while fishing keys from her bag. As soon as she got the gate open, he followed her in. Admittedly, the house was one of the nicest that he had seen outside of museum exhibits from his time. There was a fairly nice garden, lined with a variety of plants. The more recognizable ones, like roses and petunias, were surrounded by vegetables and fruits. How she managed to keep all of these alive while she was at the school was beyond him.

"Welcome to my house, it's a bit of a mess though. Last time I was here, I'd taken too long at the con." Shizuka suddenly stopped herself, and hid her face out of embarrassment. He shrugged, not like his rooms in the past had been all that clean. As they stepped in, Isaac realized just how chaotic her place really was.

The living room had posters and trinkets placed and plastered all around. Posters and art work of what could only be comic book and video game characters lined the walls, along with display stands of statues of the same characters. He had friends that were like this, but with different subjects.

"S-sorry, I know it is weird for me to have all of this. I mean, it is mostly just for a few characters that I like," She placed her bags to the side, and started picking up all the comics and magazines scattered over the couch. She continued to ramble on a bit.

"No worries. I had a collection of model ships and stuff like that. Wasn't much into comics though." Isaac followed suit, and began to round up any loose trinkets around the room. He recognized a few of the characters on the boxes as ones on the posters in her room back at the school.

"Yeah… Do they still have conventions for comics and games where you come from?" A small pile of figures accumulated onto the coffee table as Isaac snagged them off the couch.

"Yes. I had a few friends that went to those events, but I didn't have the time or the means to go. It always seemed to be a fun event though." He did have to say though, a lot of this stuff looked fairly interesting. He eventually scooped up a robotic looking figure, painted in red and gold.

"It'd be nice to have a suit like that." Isaac whispered.

"There's a convention in a few weeks, wanna go? I'll be going in costume, and you can wear your suit if you want, nyah." Now that was one thing Isaac would love to see, but he had no doubt that she'd look amazing in anything.

"Sounds great." They both made short work of the remaining memorabilia. That's when they confronted the only issue left.

"So, I have a spare bedroom, if you want." Shizuka nervously shifted about, glancing at Isaac like a nervous schoolgirl. It was obvious what she was leading to, and he already knew his answer. He might've had a bit more resilience if she acted her age, but she was just too cute at that moment to resist.

"We can always share my room though." Isaac chuckled, and snatched up his bag. As he expected, and hoped for.

"Lead the way, kitty cat."

**A few hours later**

"Hey, you got it all over me, nyah!" Shizuka stood motionless, barely able to see through her glasses that had a fresh coating of something white.

"Well, it's your fault, you only went faster when I said I was finished. Now it's everywhere." Tense glances were passed in between the two, and Shizuka wiped some of the gunk off her glasses.

"This is the last time we make pancakes at night." Isaac declared. Shizuka puffed her cheeks, and huffed as she snatched up some paper towels.

"I didn't mean to hit the high speed button…" The woman pouted as she pulled off her shirt, and Isaac began wiping off the counter, sparing a glass at the woman. There were a few spots of batter that had landed on her breasts, and an idea came to mind.

"Hey, Shizuka." She glanced over, her head tilted. Putting up the paper towels, Isaac picked her up, and sat her down on the counter. Before she could ask, Isaac began to place light kisses upon her neck, and grabbed her hips.

"I-Isaac." The woman didn't know what prompted this, but she wasn't going to fight. It'd taken a lot for her to hold back sometimes, so it was safe to say she could let loose now. She would've continued her thoughts, if it wasn't for the sensation of something wet touching her breast.

"H-hey, you don-". She inhaled sharply as Isaac began to lick up the batter that had missed her shirt, stifling a moan that she couldn't quite contain. A grin stole across Isaac's face the more he teased her, even when the small amount of batter had long been cleaned up. Shizuka's breath had started to become a bit ragged by then, and her cheeks were flushed.

He pulled away, relishing when she looked up slightly disappointed. At the least, he knew he was doing something right. He already went this far, and he doubted neither of them would be willing to stop right here. Oh so gently, he swept her off the counter, and she began to push herself against him. She even began to nuzzle his neck, purring as she did so. Isaac walked her into the room, and collapsed onto the bed with her. Soon enough, they were lost in each other's arms, enjoying the time they had put off for so long.

Once they were done, they collapsed onto the bed, tired but content. They were still holding each other close, content smiles on their faces.

"Isaac, I'm hungry." Isaac chuckled, and began to rub her back.

"Well, we can try and make pancakes again." She looked up, and planted a quick kiss on his lips. She buried her head in his chest again, and shook her head.

"Alright, I'll get something when you let me go." Shizuka's grip tightened around him, and Isaac kissed the top of her head. The only place he wanted to be at that moment was right where he was.

"Shizuka." The woman looked up again, meeting Isaac's gaze.

"I love you." A grin stole across her face, her ears perked up.

"I love you too."

**Okay, I don't know why, but I tend to imagine Shizuka as a bit of a nerd. I mean, it just makes sense to me. It's not like we have the best of ideas about her background or what she does in her free time. But she apparently has a side hobby of being a superhero, so there's that.**

** One last thing before I go, I would like your guys opinion on something. I figured out two endings to this story, but I'll just refer to them as the happy or sad ending. The sad ending will continue the story a chapter or two, technically just nullifying it as an ending. While the happy ending won't continue it, and will just lengthen the last chapter. I won't give details until I've gotten near the end.**


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